Bowl barrow 445m south west 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.

Despite having been ploughed for a number of years, the bowl barrow 445m south west of Lower Court remains a well preserved example of this class of monument. The mound will retain details of its method of construction, as well as evidence for the burial or burials within. This will aid our understanding of the technology and burial practices of its builders. The deposits which have accumulated in the ditch will preserve environmental evidence of the continued activity at the monument and of the prehistoric landscape in which it was constructed. Similarly, the buried ground surface under the mound itself will preserve indicators of this ancient landscape. The barrow is in close proximity to another 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 a gentle south facing slope in the floodplain of the River Lugg, and 400m from the river itself. The barrow sits in an arable field. The remains include an earthen barrow mound of circular form, c.35m diameter and a maximum of c.0.5m high. Material for the construction of the mound will have been obtained from a surrounding ditch, which is no longer visible on the surface. A barrow of similar diameter is situated in pasture 280m south east of the monument, and is the subject of a separate scheduling. A cup and ring marked stone was moved from this field to the corner of an adjacent field in 1972. It is not included in the 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:

27485

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
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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