Barrow at Telegraph Hill

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

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Overview

Heritage Category:
Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:
1012449
Date first listed:
10-Jun-1992
Approaching Telegraph Hill Bowl Barrow
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Location

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:
Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:
1012449
Date first listed:
10-Jun-1992

Location

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

County:
Hertfordshire
District:
North Hertfordshire (District Authority)
Parish:
Lilley
National Grid Reference:
TL 11804 28591

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.

Although slightly disturbed, the barrow on Telegraph Hill is largely intact and will retain considerable potential for the preservation of archaeological and environmental evidence.

Details

The barrow is situated on the south shoulder of Telegraph Hill just south of the trackway. It is a hemispherical earth mound measuring approximately 16m in diameter by 1.5m in height. The northern edge of the monument has been altered slightly by the trackway which runs alongside it.

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:
20623
Legacy System:
RSM

Legal

This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Ordnance survey map of Barrow at Telegraph Hill

Map

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 11-Jun-2026 at 06:48:37.

Download a full scale map (PDF)
© Crown copyright [and database rights] 2026. OS AC0000815036. Use of this mapping is subject to Terms and Conditions.

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.

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