Bowl barrow on Aldringham Common, 300m east of Stone House

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 greater part of the barrow 300m east of Stone House survives well and retains important archaeological information. The disturbance resulting from construction of the sand bunker on the south-eastern side of the mound is limited in scale, relative to the monument as a whole, and evidence concerning the construction of the barrow, the manner and duration of its use, and also the local environment, at and prior to the time of its construction, will be contained in the barrow mound and in the soils preserved beneath it. It is one of five which have survived in the vicinity, the others lying between 900m and 1330m to the south-west; together these will provide information on the use of the area during the Bronze Age.

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow, situated on the edge of a belt of rough ground on Thorpeness Golf Course and visible as an earthen mound which covers a circular area with a maximum diameter of 27m. It stands to a height of 1.1m at the centre but appears flatter on the north-western side, where it is c.0.4m in height. Approximately 15% of the area of the mound is occupied by a sand bunker which has been dug into the south-eastern side of the barrow. The upcast from this excavation forms a crescent-shaped ridge, c.0.4m in height, on the north-western lip of the bunker, augmenting the mound at this point to a total height of c.1.5m.

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:

21275

Legacy System:

RSM

End of official list entry

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