Bowl barrow, 540m east of Wildmoor Pool.

Overview

Location

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.

Despite being reduced and spread by past ploughing, the barrow, one of those known as Robin Hood's Butts, survives well and is a good example of this class of round barrow. It will retain archaeological deposits and environmental evidence from the old land surface sealed beneath the mound and in the ditch fill. It is one of several such monuments on The Long Mynd and, as such contributes information relating to the intensity of settlement and the nature of land use on this area of upland during the Bronze Age.

Details

The monument includes the remains of a bowl barrow, the northern one of two known as Robin Hood's Butts, situated on Duckley Nap at the north end of The Long Mynd. The barrow mound is visible as a well defined circular mound 21m in diameter standing up to 1.5m high. The summit of the mound is flattened, possibly by ploughing at some time in the past. Surrounding the mound is a ditch from which material for the construction of the monument was quarried. This has become largely infilled over the years but can be traced as a slight earthwork 4m wide and 0.3m deep around the north-east side of the mound. It will survive around the remaining sides as a buried feature of similar width.

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:

19095

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Other
Record no 00193,

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.