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Bowl barrow in Stephen's Firs: an outlier to a barrow cemetery in Holden's Firs

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1012304
Date first listed:: 28-Jul-1953

User submitted image — Uploaded by Peter Towndrow This photo may not represent the current condition of the site
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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1012304
Date first listed:: 28-Jul-1953
Date of most recent amendment:: 02-Feb-1995

Location

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

District:: West Berkshire (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Stratfield Mortimer
National Grid Reference:: SU 64512 64654

Reasons for Designation

Bowl barrows, the most numerous form of round barrow, are funerary monuments dating from the Late Neolithic period to the Late Bronze Age, with most examples belonging to the period 2400-1500 BC. They were constructed as earthen or rubble mounds, sometimes ditched, which covered single or multiple burials. They occur either in isolation or grouped as cemeteries and often acted as a focus for burials in later periods. Often superficially similar, although differing widely in size, they exhibit regional variations in form and a diversity of burial practices. There are over 10,000 surviving bowl barrows recorded nationally (many more have already been destroyed), occurring across most of lowland Britain. Often occupying prominent locations, they are a major historic element in the modern landscape and their considerable variation of form and longevity as a monument type provide important information on the diversity of beliefs and social organisations amongst early prehistoric communities. They are particularly representative of their period and a substantial proportion of surviving examples are considered worthy of protection.

The Stephen's Firs barrow is important as it survives comparatively well and, despite disturbance to the barrow mound by afforestation, has potential for the recovery of archaeological and environmental evidence, especially in the area of the ditch and from the old ground surface beneath the barrow mound. The significance of the site is considerably enhanced by its proximity to a linear barrow cemetery in Holden's Firs. Barrow cemeteries can give an indication of the intensity with which an area was settled during prehistory and provide evidence for the range of beliefs and nature of social organisation present within Bronze Age society.

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow set on high level ground between the River Kennet to the north and Foudry Brook to the south. The barrow mound is 28m in diameter and stands to a height of between 1.5m and 2m. Although no longer visible at ground level, a ditch from which material was quarried during the construction of the monument, surrounds the mound. This has been infilled over the years and survives as a buried feature c.3m wide. The monument is an outlier to a barrow cemetery located some 300m to the north west in Holden's Firs. The road surface immediately east of the barrow mound is excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath it is included.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract. It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features, considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:: 12233
Legacy System:: RSM

Legal

This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.