Two bowl barrows 312m south west of Dobbs Corner

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 two bowl barrows 312m south west of Dobbs Corner survive relatively well; although a trench has been dug into one of the mounds, the scale of this disturbance is limited in relation to the earthwork as a whole. Evidence concerning the construction of the barrows, the relationship between them and the manner and duration of their use, as well as of the local environment, at the time of and prior to their construction, will be contained in the mounds and in the soils preserved beneath them. The two barrows are situated within what was once a small cemetery, including four others which are documented as a result of excavation. The cemetery, in turn, formed part of a much larger group of barrows, others of which survive as visible monuments in the parishes of Brightwell, Foxhall and Martlesham and Waldringfield; together these will provide evidence of the nature and extent of Bronze Age activities in the area.

Details

The monument includes two contiguous bowl barrows, situated in a belt of wooded heathland to the west of Dobbs Lane. Each of the barrows is visible as an earthen mound covering an area c.12m in diameter. The mounds stand to heights of 1m and 0.8m respectively and the combined length of the two along a north east - south west axis is approximately 24m. A poorly defined hollow in the surface of the north eastern mound marks the site of a trench approximately 1.5m wide, dug since 1921 when the earliest description of the barrow was published. The barrows are the only two which survive of a closely spaced group of six, the other four of which were excavated in 1919. One of those four, a mound approximately 6m in diameter, contained an Anglo-Saxon cremation burial but the other three were of Bronze Age date.

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:

21264

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Reid Moir, J, J Ipswich Field Club in The Excavation of Two Tumuli on Brightwell Heath, Suffolk, Vol. 6, (1921), 1-14

Other
Coad, V J, AM7 (1978), (1978)

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