Three bowl barrows 520m and 620m east of Lynton Cross

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1017143
Date first listed:: 13-Jan-1955

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1017143
Date first listed:: 13-Jan-1955
Date of most recent amendment:: 13-Oct-1999

Location

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

County:: Devon
District:: North Devon (District Authority)
Parish:: Bittadon
National Grid Reference:: SS 54397 43752, SS 54501 43741

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 three bowl barrows 520m and 620m east of Lynton Cross form part of a dispersed group of barrows along this prominent upland ridge. Despite reduction in their heights through cultivation they survive comparatively well and will contain both archaeological and environmental information relating to the construction and use of the monument and the landscape in which it was built.

Details

This monument, which falls into two areas, includes three bowl barrows situated on a high upland ridge overlooking the Sterridge Valley. They form part of a large dispersed group of similar monuments which extend across this upland ridge and are all the subject of several separate schedulings. The three barrows all survive as circular mounds with their surrounding quarry ditches being preserved as buried features. The northernmost mound measures 18.6m in diameter and is 0.4m high. It is surrounded by an approximately 2m wide quarry ditch and partially underlies a field boundary on its western side. The central mound measures 30.3m in diameter and 1.4m high and is surrounded by an approximately 3m wide quarry ditch. The easternmost mound measures 21.6m in diameter and 0.9m high. The quarry ditch, which is approximately 2m wide, partially underlies a field boundary on the southern side. The field boundaries which cross the barrows to the west and south 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.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:: 32222
Legacy System:: RSM

Sources

Other
Devon County Sites and Monuments Register, SS54SW2, (1982)
Devon County Sites and Monuments Register, SS54SW27, (1982)
Devon County Sites and Monuments Register, SS54SW3, (1982)

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 Culture, Media and Sport.