Bowl barrow known as Three Farthing Hill: part of a barrow cemetery on and around Salthouse Heath

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 the barrow known as Three Farthing Hill has undergone excavations, only c.10% of the total area of the mound has been disturbed by this, and the monument as a whole survives well. It will retain further information concerning the construction of the barrow and the manner and duration of its use, in addition to the evidence recovered in the 19th century investigation. Evidence for the local environment during the prehistoric period is also likely to be preserved in soils buried beneath the mound. The barrow is a component of the largest round barrow cemetery in Norfolk, and has additional interest in that context. The limited investigations of this and other barrows in the group have shown that the cemetery was in use over several centuries and includes a considerable diversity in the forms and rites of burial. The evidence contained in these barrows as a group is therefore of wider importance for the study of the character and development of the prehistoric population of the area.

Details

The monument includes the bowl barrow known as Three Farthing Hill, which is on the eastern side of a dispersed round barrow cemetery extending over an area of c.1.3 sq km. The barrow is situated above an east and south east facing slope, c.50m from the parish boundary on the eastern side of Salthouse Heath, and is visible as an earthen mound standing to a height of c.1.4m and covering a circular area c.15m in diameter. It is thought that the mound is encircled by a ditch c.2.5m wide, similar to ditches observed around some of the other barrows in the group. This has become completely infilled and is no longer visible on the ground surface, but will survive as a buried feature. The estimated overall diameter of the barrow is therefore 20m. On top of the mound, at the centre, is a rectangular depression measuring c.4m square which probably marks the site of an excavation into the mound carried out by Greville Chester in 1850. The excavators found evidence which confirms the use of the barrow for burial during the Early to Middle Bronze Age, including two different types of pottery urn containing cremated bones, and fragments of a third vessel. Adjacent to the central depression is a partly infilled and weathered trench c.3m wide, of more recent appearance, dug from the south eastern edge of the mound towards the centre.

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:

21364

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Chester, G J, Norfolk Archaeology in Account of the Discovery of Ancient British Remains near Cromer, Vol. 5, (1859), 264-266

End of official list entry

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