Bowl barrow 470m south east of Smythen Cross, forming part of a round barrow cemetery on Berry Down

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

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1019260
Date first listed:: 26-Nov-1954

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1019260
Date first listed:: 26-Nov-1954
Date of most recent amendment:: 10-Oct-2000

Location

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

County:: Devon
District:: North Devon (District Authority)
Parish:: Berrynarbor
National Grid Reference:: SS 56681 43690

Reasons for Designation

Round barrow cemeteries date to the Bronze Age (c.2000-700 BC). They comprise closely-spaced groups of up to 30 round barrows - rubble or earthen mounds covering single or multiple burials. Most cemeteries developed over a considerable period of time, often many centuries, and in some cases acted as a focus for burials as late as the early medieval period. They exhibit considerable diversity of burial rite, plan and form, frequently including several different types of round barrow, occasionally associated with earlier long barrows. Where large scale investigation has been undertaken around them, contemporary or later "flat" burials between the barrow mounds have often been revealed. Round barrow cemeteries occur across most of lowland Britain, with a marked concentration in Wessex. In some cases, they are clustered around other important contemporary monuments such as henges. Often occupying prominent locations, they are a major historic element in the modern landscape, whilst their diversity and their longevity as a monument type provide important information on the variety of beliefs and social organisation amongst early prehistoric communities. They are particularly representative of their period and a substantial proportion of surviving or partly-surviving examples are considered worthy of protection.

Despite reduction in its height through cultivation and the possibility of partial excavation, the bowl barrow 470m south east of Smythen Cross, forming part of a round barrow cemetery on Berry Down survives well and contains archaeological and environmental information relating to the monument and its surrounding landscape.

Details

This monument includes a bowl barrow situated on a high upland ridge, known as Berry Down, overlooking the Sterridge valley. It is part of a round barrow cemetery, of which seven barrows survive in all. The other barrows which form the cemetery are the subject of separate schedulings. The barrow survives as a circular mound 30.6m in diameter and 1.2m high. The surrounding quarry ditch from which material to construct the mound was derived survives as a buried feature approximately 3m wide. This barrow may have been partially excavated by the Department of the Environment.

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:: 34249
Legacy System:: RSM

Sources

Other
Devon County Sites and Monuments Register, SS54SE5, (1981)

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.