Bowl barrow on The Long Mynd, 500m east-south-east of Boiling Well.

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.

Though the barrow 500m ESE of Boiling Well is small, has been disturbed in its central area and truncated along its western edge, it was probably never much larger than it is at present and it is a good example of this class of round barrow. The monument will retain primary archaeological deposits and environmental evidence preserved on the old land surface sealed beneath the barrow mound and in the surviving portion of 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 occurring in this area of upland during the Bronze Age.

Details

The monument includes the remains of a small bowl barrow situated on the high point of a rounded prominence on The Long Mynd. The barrow is visible as an oval mound 8.5m north-west to south-east by 7m transversely and stands up to 0.9m high. The south-western side has been cut by the line of the metalled road crossing the hill top at this point and the central area of the mound is hollowed to a depth of 0.4m as a result of exploration at sometime in the past. Although no longer visible as a surface feature, a ditch, from which material was quarried during the construction of the monument, surrounds the mound. This has been destroyed around the south-west side by the construction of the roadway but will survive around the remainder of the barrow as a buried feature some 1.5m wide.

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:

19102

Legacy System:

RSM

End of official list entry

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