Four bowl barrows 560m south east of New Moor Cross

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 four bowl barrows 560m south east of New Moor Cross survive comparatively well, despite reduction in their heights through cultivation and in some cases the building of field boundaries. They will contain archaeological information relating to the construction and use of the monument and also environmental evidence relating to the surrounding landscape.

Details

This monument, which falls into four separate areas, includes four bowl barrows situated on a high upland ridge overlooking the valleys of tributaries to the Crooked Oak River, in an area known as New Moor. The monument survives as four circular mounds of varying size, and each has a 2-3m wide surrounding quarry ditch from which material to construct the mound was derived; in all cases unless otherwise stated, these ditches are preserved as buried features. The group has a linear arrangement aligned approximately east to west. An outlier to the group lies to the north east and this is the subject of a separate scheduling. The western mound measures 22.6m in diameter and is 0.6m high. The next mound to the east measures 19.5m in diameter and up to 0.8m high, its outer ditch visible to the north as a 2m wide flat area. The mound has a circular central depression which measures 4.8m in diameter and is up to 0.4m deep. The east of centre mound measures 18m in diameter and is 0.5m high. The eastern mound measures 23.7m in diameter and 1.2m high and is defined on its southern side by a ditch which measures up to 3m wide and 0.5m deep. All the field boundaries and fences are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath is included.

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:

32233

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Other
Devon County Sites and Monuments Register, SS82SW2, (1983)
Devon County Sites and Monuments Register, SS82SW14, (1983)
Devon County Sites and Monuments Register, SS82SW3, (1983)
Devon County Sites and Monuments Register, SS82SW4, (1983)

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.