Bowl barrow 50m SSE of Tilford Barrows: part of The Barrows round barrow cemetery

Overview

Location

Reasons for Designation

Round barrow cemeteries date to the Bronze Age (c.2000-700 BC). They comprise closely-spaced groups of up to 30 round barrows - rubble or earthen mounds covering single or multiple burials. Most cemeteries developed over a considerable period of time, often many centuries, and in some cases acted as a focus for burials as late as the early medieval period. They exhibit considerable diversity of burial rite, plan and form, frequently including several different types of round barrow, occasionally associated with earlier long barrows. Where large scale investigation has been undertaken around them, contemporary or later "flat" burials between the barrow mounds have often been revealed. Round barrow cemeteries occur across most of lowland Britain, with a marked concentration in Wessex. In some cases, they are clustered around other important contemporary monuments such as henges. Often occupying prominent locations, they are a major historic element in the modern landscape, whilst their diversity and their longevity as a monument type provide important information on the variety of beliefs and social organisation amongst early prehistoric communities. They are particularly representative of their period and a substantial proportion of surviving or partly-surviving examples are considered worthy of protection.

Despite partial excavation, the bowl barrow 50m SSE of Tilford Barrows survives comparatively well and contains archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the monument, the barrow cemetery, and the landscape in which it was constructed.

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow situated on a gentle south-facing slope above a steep scarp in the Lower Greensand. It is one of a group of five bowl barrows forming a linear round barrow cemetery aligned NNE-SSW. This barrow survives as a mound 14m in diameter and 0.7m high surrounded by a ditch from which material was quarried during the construction of the monument. This is no longer visible at ground level having become infilled over the years but survives as a buried feature c.1.5m wide. The barrow is one of three within the cemetery which were partially excavated in 1870 by Reverend Charles Kerry, a local antiquarian. Few details are known and only a flint flake is thought to have been found.

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:

20175

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, L V, 'Surrey Archaeological Collections' in Surrey Barrows 1934-1987: A Reappraisal, , Vol. 79, (1987), 36-37
Other
Reverend C Kerry , Original Notes of Charles Kerry, (1870)

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.