Bowl barrow at Mill Hill Quarry, 350m north west of Claxby church

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 at Mill Hill Quarry is a substantial earthwork mound which, being situated within a nature reserve, is easily and freely accessible to the public. Despite part disturbance by quarrying activities, the mound and the greater part of the buried quarry ditch remain largely intact. These will retain extensive archaeological evidence, including funerary remains, relating to the construction and dating of the barrow and to the ritual beliefs of the barrow builders. Environmental deposits preserved within and beneath the mound, and in the fills of the buried ditch, will help to illustrate the nature of the landscape in which the barrow was set. The monument lies to the east of both the Skendleby group of long barrows and the pair of long barrows known as Deadmen's Graves, all of which are associated with the prehistoric ridgeway now formalised as the Bluestone Heath Road. This siting, which demonstrates the continuing ritual significance of the location, has significant implications for the study of communications and the evolution of prehistoric settlement in the area.

Details

The monument includes a Bronze Age burial mound situated on the eastern edge of Mill Hill Quarry, 350m north west of Claxby church. The mound would originally have been a prominent feature in an open landscape. However, quarrying for chalk during the late 19th and early 20th centuries has cut a long ravine running south east to north west, and the barrow now occupies an overhanging ledge at the top of, and midway along, the north eastern face of this ravine. The circular barrow mound is c.15.7m in diameter with a rounded profile and stands to a height of c.1.3m. Material for the mound would have been quarried from an encircling ditch and, although this is no longer visible, it is thought to survive around all but the south western arc where it has been disrupted by quarrying. Finds made during the working of the quarry in the 1920s when digging at the north eastern face partly undercut the mound, included a skeleton buried in a crouched position together with a Beaker type pot which was subsequently dated to c.1600 BC. It is recorded that an inquest was held and the skeleton later buried in Claxby churchyard by the Rev Beasley. The pot, broken in its fall down the quarry side, was preserved in the museum at Lincoln. It is thought that during the medieval period the barrow mound may have supported a windmill, a theory perpetuated by the barrow's name.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

27911

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Other
SMR file no. TF 47 SE, B, C, Site of barrow, Claxby: PRN: 42077,
item on list of classified sites, Harpenden Assessment Report,
SMR file no. TF 47 SE, B, C, Site of barrow, Claxby: PRN: 42077,

End of official list entry

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