Bowl barrow and moot on Anmer Minque, 590m SSE of junction of Peddars Way and the B1153

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 bowl barrow on Anmer Minque survives well and the greater part remains undisturbed by the excavation of 1948, which was limited in extent. The monument as a whole will retain archaeological information concerning the construction of the barrow and the manner and duration of its use, as well as evidence for the local environment at that time which is likely to be preserved in soils buried beneath the mound. In the context of the local group of round barrows of various types, this information has a broader significance for the study of the character and distribution of the prehistoric population of the area. Prehistoric barrows, as conspicuous features of the landscape, were sometimes chosen as meeting places, or moots, for courts and other bodies which dealt with the administration and organisation of the countryside in the Saxon and medieval periods. The identification of this barrow as moot hill for the hundred, which in Saxon and medieval times was the basic unit of local government and land management, gives it an additional historical interest.

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow situated 150m west of Peddars Way, on former heathland near the western edge of the Good Sands upland region of north west Norfolk. The barrow, which is one of a dispersed group of round barrows aligned on a north west to south east axis over a distance of c.2.6km, is visible as an earthen mound standing to a height of c.1m and covering a roughly circular area c.33m in diameter. The mound is thought to be surrounded by a ditch from which earth was dug and used in the construction of the barrow, and although this has become infilled and can no longer be traced on the ground surface, it will survive as a buried feature. The estimated overall diameter of the barrow including the ditch is c.43m. The date and character of the barrow have been confirmed by the finding of fragments of Bronze Age pottery in the course of a limited excavation carried out in 1948. The barrow has been identified as the one reused as moot hill of the Freebridge Hundred. A field boundary fence which crosses the area of the monument on the north west side is excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath it is included.

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:

21385

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Other
composite plot of air photographs, Edwards, D & Wymer, J, 11967: West Norfolk, Flitcham with Appleton, (1989)
3540: West Norfolk, Flitcham with Appleton,

End of official list entry

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