Mill Mound: a bowl barrow 300m south-west of Beckingham Hall

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 some erosion in the past and the levelling of the outer bank by cultivation, the bowl barrow south-west of Beckingham Hall survives well and contains archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the monument and the landscape in which it was constructed. It is one of few such monuments to survive as upstanding earthworks in this area of the country, most having been levelled by cultivation.

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow situated south-west of Beckingham Hall on the floodplain of the River Blackwater. It survives as an earth mound measuring 16m in diameter and c.2m in height. Although the barrow has been eroded slightly on the north-west side, it has remained stable for the past 20 years and has therefore suffered no further damage. Although no longer visible at ground level, a ditch from which material was excavated for the construction of the monument, surrounds the barrow mound. This has become infilled over the years but survives as a buried feature c.2m 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:

20645

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Other
Information from Field Mounument Warden report (1990), (1990)

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