Bowl barrow on The Roundabout

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 minor surface disturbance to the centre of the mound, the bowl barrow on The Roundabout survives well. It is a rare example in Staffordshire of a bowl barrow surrounded by a ditch and bank, and will contain undisturbed archaeological deposits within the mound and upon the old land surface beneath.

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow with an encircling ditch and outer bank located 425m north-east of Norbury church on a hilltop known as The Roundabout. The oval earthen mound is up to 1.5m high with maximum dimensions of 27m by 24m. The mound is surrounded by a ditch measuring 2.5m wide and 0.3m deep. Flanking the ditch is a low outer bank measuring 2.5m wide and up to 0.1m high. At the barrow's centre is a shallow hollow 6.5m in diameter and 0.2m deep.

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:

22424

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Other
Darvill,T., MPP Single Monument Class Description - Bowl Barrows, (1988)

End of official list entry

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