Bowl barrow 250m west of Brockman's Bushes plantation on Tolsford Hill

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 monument near Brockman's Bushes survives to a greater extent than many in the region. In spite of the limited disturbance to the mound caused by small-scale partial excavation and damage during military training, the monument retains its archaeological potential since only a small part of the whole mound has been affected. It is also part of a cluster of similar monuments on Tolsford Hill which demonstrate the importance of the locality for burial in the Bronze Age.

Details

The monument includes a Bronze Age barrow which comprises an earthen mound 17m in diameter and over 3m high at the summit, as well as a circular ditch some 5m in maximum width. The mound is steeply-sided and has a depression in the top which marks the position of an old excavation trench. No records of these excavations have survived. A similar depression in the western side of the mound has resulted from the more recent digging of a fox-hole during military training. The surrounding ditch is most easily visible on the southern and western sides. Here it takes the form of a depression up to 0.4m deep and some 5m from inner to outer edge. The ditch provided the earth for the construction of the mound. The mound and the ditch have an overall diameter of 27m.

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:

12808

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Spurrell, F, Arch Journal in Arch Journal, Vol. 40, (1883), 292

Other
Darvill, T, Monument Class Description - Bowl barrows, 1988,

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