Two bowl barrows on Flag Heath

Summary

Two bowl barrows on Flag Heath most likely of Bronze Age origin.

Reasons for Designation

The two bowl barrows on Flag Heath, most likely of Bronze Age date are scheduled for the following principal reasons:

* Survival: as a well preserved earthwork monument representing the diversity of burial practices, beliefs and social organisation amongst early prehistoric communities;

* Potential: for the stratified archaeological deposits which retain considerable potential to provide invaluable evidence not only for the individuals buried within but also evidence for the ideology, variation in burial practices and social organisation of the communities and social networks that were using the landscape in this way;

* Group Value: as a pair of barrows in close proximity to each other but also for the close proximity to the bowl barrow, 377m north-east of Waterhouse Lodge (NHLE 1004039) and the Barrow Group north-east of Waterloo Farm (NHLE 1002891).

History

The treatment, burial and commemoration of the dead have been a distinctive part of human life for millennia, and these activities have often left physical remains. The remains of the dead have been dealt with in remarkably varied ways in the past and it appears that, in the prehistoric period especially, only a small proportion of the population received a burial which has left traces detectable using current methods. Round barrows are distinctive burial monuments which can represent both individual burials as well as larger burial groups. They are one of the main sources of information about life in this period.

The main period of round barrow construction occurred in the Early Bronze Age between about 2200-1500 BC (a period when cremation succeeded inhumation as the primary burial rite), although Neolithic examples are known from as early as 3000 BC. In general round barrows comprise a rounded earthen mound or stone cairn, the earthen examples usually having a surrounding ditch and occasionally an outer bank. They range greatly in size from just 5m in diameter to as much as 40m, with the mounds ranging from slight rises to as much as 4m in height. They occur either in isolation or grouped as cemeteries and often acted as a focus for burials in later periods. Round barrows are the most numerous of the various prehistoric funerary monuments.

The most common form of round barrow is referred to as a bowl barrow. These are inverted pudding bowl-shaped mounds with slopes of varying profile, sometimes with a surrounding ditch and occasionally an outer bank.

The two bowl barrows on flag heath lie in close proximity to the bowl barrow 377m north-east of Waterhouse Lodge (NHLE 1004039) and the Barrow Group north-east of Waterloo Farm (NHLE 1002891). They are depicted as earthworks on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey maps of 1883 and are understood to date to the Bronze Age, although no archaeological excavations have been carried out to confirm the date. They were first scheduled in the early C20 with the first scheduling documentation dating to June 1931.

Details

Two bowl barrows on Flag Heath, most likely of Bronze Age origin.

PRINCIPAL ELEMENTS
These two barrows survive as earthen mounds covered in rough grass with dense clusters of bracken, heather and gorse across their surface. The mound located approximately100m north-east of the southern tip of Bowgens Covert measures approximately 20m in diameter and 1.8m high. The second mound, approximately 516m east of the southern tip of Bowgens Covert is approximately 25m in diameter and 1.5m high. Both are marked with a silver star on a 1m high pole, these are used by the Ministry of Defence in recognition of their scheduled status.

EXTENT OF SCHEDULING
The scheduled areas include a 2m buffer zone around the circumference of each mound.

EXCLUSIONS
The Ministry of Defence marker stars are excluded from scheduling, although the ground beneath these is included.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

NF 49

Legacy System:

RSM - OCN

Sources

Books and journals
Lawson, AJ, Martin, EA, Priddy, D, Taylor, A, East Anglian Archaeology Report No. 12 The Barrows of East Anglia, (1981)
Antiquary in Antiquary, (1913), 422

Websites
1988 and 1945 Aerial Photographs, accessed 16th March 2016 from http://www.historic-maps.norfolk.gov.uk/mapexplorer/

Other
Norfolk Historic Environment Record no. 7373 and 7374

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