Bowl barrow 380m west of Mount Pleasant

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 bowl barrow west of Mount Pleasant has been degraded by ploughing its buried remains will retain valuable archaeological information, including funerary deposits, within the ditch and on and under the original ground surface concerning the barrow's dating and construction. Environmental evidence preserved in the same contexts will illustrate the nature of the landscape in which the monument was set. The monument's close proximity to two other bowl barrows and its association with a number of other Bronze Age and Neolithic burial mounds above the Nettleton and Otby Becks and along the route of the adjacent prehistoric trackway is indicative of the ritual significance of this location. The number and frequency of these monuments poses wider questions concerning prehistoric settlement patterns and demography.

Details

The monument includes the buried remains of a Bronze Age bowl barrow located c.160m above sea level on a plateau between the sources of the Nettleton Beck to the north and the Otby Beck to the south. It is situated approximately 50m north of the boundary of the field in which it sits and is clearly visible from the air as a circular cropmark within an enclosing ditch some 25m in diameter. A second, similar monument identified from aerial photographs lies some 80m to the east (SM 27897), with a third earthwork bowl barrow c.70m to the south (SM 27893). These monuments are the subject of separate schedulings. The monument is one of a number of Neolithic and Bronze Age burial mounds in the area which are associated with the heads and valleys of the Nettleton and Otby Becks and with High Street, approximately 350m to the east, which originated as a prehistoric trackway.

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:

27898

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Bonnor, L D, Griffiths, D W, Skitter to Hatton 4050mm diameter pipeline, 1993, (1993), 31-41

Other
oblique monochrome photograph, Everson, P, 2921/36-7, (1976)

End of official list entry

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