Bowl barrow 30m south of Burrough Close

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 30m south of Burrough Close is a particularly important bowl barrow. It survives well, appears to be unexcavated and is a particularly large example of this class of monument in an area where round barrows are comparatively rare. The waterlogged valley bottom a few hundred metres to the west may preserve important evidence for the historic environment.

Details

The monument comprises a large and well preserved bowl barrow 30m south of Burrough Close. The barrow is situated on a clay-with-flints capped ridge overlooking the Lyde River to the west. The barrow mound is 34m in diameter east-west and 32m north-south. It survives to a height of 1.7m. The top of the mound has been slightly disturbed, probably as a result of tree collapse, but the barrow does not appear to have been excavated. No evidence for a surrounding ditch is apparent except perhaps 3m to the south east of the barrow where traces of a curving ditch are engulfed by a modern boundary ditch running south of the barrow. To the west the ground drops away from the barrow without visible evidence for a ditch. To the north and the east, garden landscaping and a shallow hollow way running north-south will have obscured or truncated any ditch. Some flintwork has been recovered from the site of the barrow.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract. It includes a 3 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:

27927

Legacy System:

RSM

End of official list entry

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