Round barrow cemetery at Park Head

Reasons for Designation

Round barrow cemeteries date to the Bronze Age (c.2000-700 BC). They comprise closely-spaced groups of up to 30 round barrows - rubble or earthen mounds covering single or multiple burials. Most cemeteries developed over a considerable period of time, often many centuries, and in some cases acted as a focus for burials as late as the early medieval period. They exhibit considerable diversity of burial rite, plan and form, frequently including several different types of round barrow, occasionally associated with earlier long barrows. Where large scale investigation has been undertaken around them, contemporary or later "flat" burials between the barrow mounds have often been revealed. Round barrow cemeteries occur across most of lowland Britain, with a marked concentration in Wessex. In some cases, they are clustered around other important contemporary monuments such as henges. Often occupying prominent locations, they are a major historic element in the modern landscape, whilst their diversity and their longevity as a monument type provide important information on the variety of beliefs and social organisation amongst early prehistoric communities. They are particularly representative of their period. Despite some coastal erosion and reduction in the heights of some mounds through past cultivation, the round barrow cemetery at Park Head survive well and will contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to their construction, relative chronologies, territorial significance, social organisation, ritual and funerary practices and overall landscape context.

Details

The monument, which falls into six areas of protection, includes a round barrow cemetery, situated at the summit of a prominent coastal ridge between the headland of Park Head and the cove of Porth Mear. The round barrow cemetery includes six bowl barrows which survive as circular mounds, surrounded by buried quarry ditches from which the construction material was derived. The mounds are dispersed along the cliff edges with the exception of the central one which is slightly further inland. They vary in diameter from 18m up to 36m and in height from 0.6m to 1.7m. The northernmost has a small central excavation hollow and the southernmost has several such hollows. Sources: HER:- PastScape Monument No:-429550, 429551, 429554, 429557, 429560 and 429563

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

CO 645

Legacy System:

RSM - OCN

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