High Barrow

Overview

Heritage Category: Scheduled Monument

List Entry Number: 1017966

Date first listed: 12-Apr-1957

Date of most recent amendment: 10-Jun-1998

Location

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

National Grid Reference: SS 34110 09568

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 partial excavation and limited recent interference, the bowl barrow known as High Barrow survives well in a prominent location and contains archaeological and environmental evidence relating to the monument and its surrounding landscape.

History

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

Details

This monument includes a bowl barrow situated on a high upland ridge overlooking the valleys of tributaries to the River Waldon. The barrow survives as a 2.8m high circular mound with a diameter of 34.6m. A segment 10m wide and 8.9m deep has been cut into the mound on its south western side. This cut once contained a Nissen Hut which has now been removed, but did not disturb the original ground surface beneath the mound. Across the centre of the mound is a trench which measures 4.1m wide and up to 1.2m deep and may be the result of an archaeological excavation. The surrounding ditch from which material to construct the mound was derived is partially visible, measures up to 4.1m wide and 0.4m deep and survives elsewhere as a buried feature.

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: 30327

Legacy System: RSM

Sources

Other
Devon County Sites and Monuments Register, SS30NW1, (1983)

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.