Bowl barrow on the north side of Muckleburgh Hill

Overview

Heritage Category: Scheduled Monument

List Entry Number: 1013584

Date first listed: 10-Oct-1995

Location

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

National Grid Reference: TG 10127 43124

Summary

Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.

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 the north side of Muckleburgh Hill survives well and is not known to have undergone any disturbance other than the limited amount caused by the digging of three small slit trenches into the mound. It will retain archaeological information concerning its construction and the manner and duration of its use, and evidence for the local environment during that period is likely to be preserved in soils buried beneath the mound. The barrow is one of several located between 2km and 6km to the east of a large dispersed barrow cemetery on and around Salthouse Heath, and has additional interest in the context of this larger group. The barrows of the cemetery and the associated group include a variety of forms and types and the evidence from several, which have been the subject of part investigation, shows that they are of varying date. As a group, they therefore have a wider significance for the study of the distribution, character and development of the prehistoric population of the area.

History

Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow located on sloping ground against the northern edge of the Cromer Ridge, below the prominent glacial feature of Muckleburgh Hill and overlooking the coast. The barrow is visible as an earthen mound standing to a height of c.1.5m and covering a circular area c.22m in diameter. The mound is thought to be encircled by a ditch c.3m wide from which earth was dug and used in the construction of the barrow, and this will survive as a buried feature, although it has become infilled and can no longer be traced on the ground surface. The estimated overall diameter of the barrow is therefore 28m.

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: 21372

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 Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.