Bowl barrow 460m south of Lower Court

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 460m south of Lower Court is a well preserved example of this class of monument. Despite indications of an early investigation, the mound will retain details of its construction and evidence for the burial, or burials, within it, furthering our understanding of the technology and beliefs of its builders. Material accumulated in the ditch will preserve evidence of activity at the barrow, and of the prehistoric landscape in which the barrow was constructed, as will the buried ground surface beneath the mound itself. Due to its proximity to the river, the ditch deposits are likely to be waterlogged, increasing the likelihood of organic remains surviving within them. The barrow is near to a second barrow and a cup and ring marked stone, and this association enhances interest in the individual monuments.

Details

The monument includes the earthwork and buried remains of a bowl barrow, situated on the floodplain of the Lugg River, and 70m from the river itself. The barrow is in a pasture field known as The Cott, which is prone to flooding. The remains include an earthen mound of circular form, c.35m diameter and c.1.8m high. A slight depression extends in an arc half way round the east side of the mound, which may be the result of an early investigation of the barrow. Material for the construction of the mound will have been obtained from a surrounding ditch, which is no longer visible on the surface. The earthwork remains of a barrow of similar diameter are situated 280m north west of the monument, and are the subject of a separate scheduling. A cup and ring marked stone, moved from the vicinity of this neighbouring barrow, is now situated in the corner of the field immediately north of the monument but is not included in this scheduling.

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:

27484

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Stanford, S C, The Archaeology of the Welsh Marches, (1980), 67
Watson, M D, Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological and Historical Soc in Ring-Ditches of the Upper Severn Valley, Vol. 67, (1991), 9-14

Other
H&W SMR Officer, (1995)

End of official list entry

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