Bowl barrow on Beaford Moor, 400m north east of Cupper's Piece

Overview

Heritage Category: Scheduled Monument

List Entry Number: 1015140

Date first listed: 18-Nov-1996

Location

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

National Grid Reference: SS 58196 14519

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.

Despite limited plough damage, the bowl barrow on Beaford Moor survives comparatively well and contains archaeological and environmental information relating to the barrow and its surrounding landscape. This barrow forms part of a group lying on the watershed between the Rivers Taw and Torridge.

History

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

Details

This monument includes a bowl barrow situated on an exposed hilltop on the watershed between the River Torridge to the west and River Taw to the east. The barrow survives as a circular flat topped mound which measures 16.4m in diameter and is 0.6m high. The ditch from which material to construct the barrow was quarried surrounds the mound and survives as a c.2m wide buried feature. A group of three barrows lying to the south east of this monument are the subject of a separate scheduling (SM 28605).

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: 28616

Legacy System: RSM

Sources

Other
Devon County Sites and Monuments Register, SS51SE2, (1989)
MPP fieldwork by H. Gerrard, (1995)

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.