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 barrow 820m south west of Redhouse Farm is the most prominent of the
visible components of a round barrow cemetery. Most of such 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 different types of round barrow and, wherever large scale
investigation has been undertaken, revealing contemporary or later `flat'
burials between the barrow mounds. The barrow survives well and retains
important archaeological information; the area of disturbance, represented by
the central hollow, affects only 15% of the monument as a whole. Evidence
concerning the construction of the barrow, the manner and duration of its use,
and also the local environment, at and prior to that time, will be contained
in the barrow mound, in the soils preserved beneath the mound, and in the fill
of the buried ditch. The Levington Heath barrow cemetery is part of a larger
group of round barrows and circular ditched enclosures which extend in a line
to the north west, over a distance of 3km, to Seven Hills, Nacton. The parish
boundary between Levington and Nacton, to the south, and Bucklesham and
Foxhall, to the north, follows the same line, showing a relationship which is
of particular interest for the study of the prehistoric and medieval landscape
history of the area.
Details
The monument includes a bowl barrow within Levington Heath barrow cemetery,
situated on level ground 150m north west of the junction between the parish
boundaries of Levington, to the west, Bucklesham to the north and east, and
Stratton Hall to the south. The barrow is visible as an earthen mound,
standing to a height of 2.5m and covering a circular area approximately 28m
in diameter. The mound is encircled by a ditch, from which earth was dug
during construction of the barrow. The ditch has become completely infilled,
but survives as a buried feature approximately 3m wide. A hollow approximately
9m wide in the mound surface, extending from the southern edge into the
centre, marks the site of an old exploration, thought to date from 1925.
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.
