Two bowl barrows 570m south west of Polkerth forming part of a larger round barrow cemetery on Goonhilly Downs

Overview

Heritage Category: Scheduled Monument

List Entry Number: 1004374

Date first listed: 28-Jul-1960

Location Description: Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.

Location

Location Description: Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.

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

National Grid Reference: SW7335021538, SW7348821615

Summary

Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.

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. 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. Despite partial early excavation, the two bowl barrows 570m south west of Polkerth forming part of a larger round barrow cemetery 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.

History

Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.

Details

The monument, which falls into two areas of protection, includes two bowl barrows, forming part of a larger round barrow cemetery situated on the northern upper slopes of Goonhilly Downs. The barrows survive as circular mounds, surrounded by buried quarry ditches, from which their construction material was derived. The north eastern mound measures 18m in diameter and 2m high and has a central excavation hollow. The south western mound measures 16m in diameter and 1.2m high with a deep central hollow. Some large boulders protrude from the mound on the north east side. Both barrows mark the parish boundary between St Martin and St Keverne.

Other barrows forming part of the cemetery are the subject of separate schedulings.

Sources: HER:- PastScape Monument No:-427479 and 427413

Legacy

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

Legacy System number: CO 561

Legacy System: RSM - OCN

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 Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.