A bowl barrow on Church Hill 200m south of church

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 on Church Hill is a good example of its class. The mound, though modified and disturbed in its central area, survives comparatively well. The possibility of its later secondary use, as the site of a medieval post mill, adds to the interest of the monument.

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow situated on the summit of a low, gently rounded hill with land falling away to the south and west. The mound survives as a substantial and well defined circular mound 30m in diameter and up to 2.4m high. The top of the mound is flat and level, probably the result of later modification, with a central depression 2m in diameter and 0.5m deep. Surrounding the mound is a ditch up to 5m wide and 0.6m deep from which material for the construction of the mound would have been quarried. The ditch is well defined around the west, north and south, but is terminated in the south-east on a low amorphous mound of a later date than the original period of construction. The ditch is crossed in its south-west quadrant by a well defined causeway. In its original form the monument represents a burial monument; however the flattened top and causeway suggest a later modification and secondary use as a medieval post mill mound.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

19052

Legacy System:

RSM

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