Bowl barrow in Tunstall Forest, 1300m south of Heath Cottages

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 1300m south of Heath Cottages survives well and will contain important archaeological information. 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 preserved in the mound, in the soils buried beneath the mound and external bank, and in the fill of the ditch. The survival of an external bank is unusual for this area.

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow, prominently sited on the crest of a small spur above a south-facing slope, overlooking a road, the B1078. The barrow is visible as an earthen mound, around which are traces of an encircling ditch and an outer, concentric bank. The mound covers a circular area 20m in diameter and stands to a height of c.1.1m. The ditch, from which earth was dug and used during construction of the barrow, has become largely infilled, but it survives as a buried feature and is marked on the north-western side of the mound by a slight hollow, c.3m in width and 0.2m deep, in the ground surface. Immediately beyond this hollow are the upstanding remains of the bank, in the form of an elongated, curving mound, measuring 4m in width and surviving to a height of c.0.15m.

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:

21272

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Proc Suffolk Inst Archaeol in Archaeology in Suffolk, 1984, Vol. 36, (1985)

End of official list entry

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