Two bowl barrows on Stonepit Hills

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 barrows on Stonepit Hills survive well. Archaeological information concerning their construction and the manner and duration of their use, as well as evidence for the local environment at that time, will be contained in the mounds, in soils buried beneath the mounds and in the fill of the ditches.

Details

The monument includes two adjacent bowl barrows, situated on the end of a gravel spur above a steep, south west facing slope overlooking Massingham Road. The site was formerly heathland. The barrows are visible as earthen mounds c.19m apart. The smaller of the two mounds stands to a height of c.1.5m and covers a circular area c.18m in diameter. The second mound, which lies ESE of the first, measures c.1.7m high and c.26m in diameter. The ground immediately to the south of the barrows falls in a steep scarp. On the north, west and east sides, however, the mounds are enclosed by ditches which have become infilled but which will survive as buried features. Around the north and east side of the eastern barrow, the line of the ditch is followed by a later hollow track with a slight bank alongside, which is included in the scheduling. The site of the ditch to the north of the western barrow is marked by a slight hollow in the ground surface. The dating of the barrows to the Early Bronze Age is supported by finds of a fragment of prehistoric pottery and a worked flint on the western mound.

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:

21353

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Other
Clarke, RR, 2330: West Norfolk, Grimston, (1953)
Lawson, AJ, 2331: West Norfolk, Grimston, (1974)

End of official list entry

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