Two round barrows on Viverdon Down

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

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1004394
Date first listed:: 05-Oct-1959

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1004394
Date first listed:: 05-Oct-1959

Location

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

District:: Cornwall (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: St. Mellion
National Grid Reference:: SX 38056 67443, SX 38143 67412

Summary

Two bowl barrows on Viverdon Down, 540m north west of Tipwell Farm.

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 reduction in the heights of the mounds through cultivation, the two bowl barrows on Viverdon Down, 540m north west of Tipwell Farm 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

See Details.

Details

This record was the subject of a minor enhancement on 3 December 2015. This record has been generated from an "old county number" (OCN) scheduling record. These are monuments that were not reviewed under the Monuments Protection Programme and are some of our oldest designation records.

This monument, which falls into two areas, includes two bowl barrows situated on the summit of a prominent hill called Viverdon Down which forms the watershed between tributaries to the Rivers Lynher and Tamar. The barrows survive as circular mounds surrounded by buried quarry ditches from which the construction material was derived. The eastern barrow mound measures 18m in diameter and up to 1.2m high, the western barrow mound is up to 14m in diameter and 0.9m high.

Further archaeological remains survive within the vicinity of the monument, but these are not included within the scheduling because they have not been formally assessed.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:: CO 525
Legacy System:: RSM - OCN

Sources

Other
PastScape Monument No:-436683

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.