Bowl barrow on Playford Heath, 870m south of Lux Farm

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

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1007330
Date first listed:: 26-May-1960

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1007330
Date first listed:: 26-May-1960
Date of most recent amendment:: 02-Aug-1993

Location

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

County:: Suffolk
District:: East Suffolk (District Authority)
Parish:: Kesgrave
National Grid Reference:: TM 22074 45919

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 bowl barrow 870m south of Lux Farm shows no obvious signs of having been disturbed, other than by animal burrowing and as a result of penetration by tree roots. Evidence of the manner in which the barrow was constructed and used, of the duration of its use and also of the local environment at the time of and prior to its construction will be preserved in the mound and in the soils buried beneath it. The importance of the monument is enhanced by the fact that it is one of three barrows surviving within a distance of less than 300m.

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow which is visible as a sub-circular earthen mound, standing to a maximum height of c.0.8m, although slightly flattened on the north side, and covering an area with a maximum diameter of 21m N-S by 19m E-W. There is no trace on the ground surface of a ditch encircling the mound, although such a ditch probably exists as a buried feature.

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:: 21257
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.