Bowl barrow on Bill Hill
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Scheduled Monument
- List Entry Number:
- 1012921
- Date first listed:
- 16-Jan-1951
Location
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Scheduled Monument
- List Entry Number:
- 1012921
- Date first listed:
- 16-Jan-1951
- Date of most recent amendment:
- 07-Feb-1991
Location
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- Bracknell Forest (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Bracknell
- National Grid Reference:
- SU 86839 68383
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 Bill Hill barrow is important as much of the monument, in particular the ditch deposits and buried ground surface, survives well and, despite partial excavation, has considerable archaeological potential.
Details
The monument includes a bowl barrow situated on top of Bill Hill, a steep- sided hill with extensive views in all directions. The mound survives to a height of 1.5m and has a maximum diameter of 25m. It is surrounded by a ditch, from which mound material was quarried. This has been largely infilled over the years but survives to a width of 5m and a depth of 0.2m. A pronounced depression on the top of the barrow mound may indicate an early exploration of the site.
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:
- 12077
- 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.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 04-Jun-2026 at 09:20:29.
Download a full scale map (PDF)© Crown copyright [and database rights] 2026. OS AC0000815036. All rights reserved. Ordnance Survey Licence number 100024900.© British Crown and SeaZone Solutions Limited 2026. All rights reserved. Licence number 102006.006.
End of official list entry