Two bowl barrows north of Green Lane, 430m and 330m west of Rewe Cross

Overview

Heritage Category: Scheduled Monument

List Entry Number: 1016565

Date first listed: 25-May-1962

Date of most recent amendment: 19-Mar-1999

Location

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

National Grid Reference: SX 94300 99750, SX 94399 99726

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 reduction in their height through cultivation, the two Bronze Age barrows north of Green Lane and west of Rewe Cross have surviving mounds and associated ditches. They will contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to the barrows and the landscape in which they were built. The area has a tradition of prehistoric burial with the remains of an earlier Neolithic long mortuary enclosure located in fields just to the west of the barrows and other Bronze Age barrows in the vicinity.

Details

The monument, which falls into two areas of protection, includes two Bronze Age bowl barrows, lying in an approximate east-west alignment, situated about 100m apart on low lying land between the River Exe and the River Culm. Both barrows have been reduced in height and spread by cultivation but both have mounds with an average height of 1m. Both barrows have surrounding ring ditches from which soil was extracted for the construction of their mounds; these ring ditches survive as below ground features which have been recorded as crop marks on aerial photographs with a width of about 2m. The diameter of the westernmost barrow, inclusive of its ring ditch, is about 32m and that of the eastern barrow about 38m. These barrows are two of a number of such barrows which have been recognised in this area of the Exe valley.

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: 29676

Legacy System: RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, L V, 'Proceedings of the Devon Archaeological Society' in The Barrows of South and East Devon, (1983), 39
Grinsell, L V, 'Proceedings of the Devon Archaeological Society' in The Barrows of South and East Devon, (1983), 39
Other
Attrill, N J, Ordnance Survey Archaeology, (1982)
DAP/CG 2, Griffith, F, Devon Aerial Photograph, (1984)
DAP/CG 2, Griffith, F, Devon Aerial Photograph, (1984)
Davies, D A, Ordnance Survey Archaeology, (1958)

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.