Bowl barrow known as Fiddler's Hill, 130m north west of Fiddler's Hill Farm

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 southern half of the bowl barrow known as Fiddler's Hill survives well, and although the northern part of the barrow mound has been levelled, the remains of the surrounding ditch will be preserved below the ground surface on that side as well as to the south. The monument will retain archaeological information concerning the construction of the barrow and the manner and duration of its use, and evidence for the local environment at and prior to that time is likely to be preserved in deposits in the fill of the buried ditch and in soils buried beneath the mound.

Details

The monument includes the standing and buried remains of a bowl barrow, situated in the valley of a tributary of the River Stiffkey, at the crossing of the roads from Warham to Binham and from Stiffkey to Wighton. The stream runs 80m to the east of the barrow which originally measured approximately 33m in diameter. The southern half of the barrow is visible as a semi-circular mound up to 2m in height and measuring 33m east-west by 21m north-south. The northern half of the mound was levelled in 1933, in advance of a proposed road widening, when remains of three skeletons, including those of a girl and a dog, were found, and buried soil containing charcoal and burnt flints was also observed. It is thought that the barrow is surrounded by a ditch which was dug during the construction of the monument, and although this ditch has become completely infilled and is no longer visible, it will survive as a buried feature with an estimated width of 3m. The posts of a fence across the northern edge of the surviving part of the mound are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath them 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:

30530

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Other
North Norfolk: Warham: 1854,

End of official list entry

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