Three bowl barrows 140m west of Borough Farm

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

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1019317
Date first listed:: 09-Feb-2001

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1019317
Date first listed:: 09-Feb-2001

Location

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

County:: Devon
District:: South Hams (District Authority)
Parish:: Holbeton
National Grid Reference:: SX 60255 49410

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 having been reduced by ploughing in the past, the three bowl barrows 140m west of Borough Farm are well-preserved and will retain information about their construction and use. Their surrounding ditches will preserve stratified material and it is likely that their primary burials are undisturbed. Their unusual siting in a valley, and the presence of another barrow, 500m to the SSE, gives the group particular interest.

Details

This monument includes three Late Neolithic to Bronze Age bowl barrows in a broadly south west to north east alignment, sited on a gentle south facing slope near the head of a valley. The southern mound is 40m in diameter by up to 1m high. The central mound is 42m in diameter by up to 1m high, while the northern one is 40m in diameter by up to 0.8m high. The ditches from which material was quarried during the mounds' construction survive as buried features measuring 4m wide. A further barrow 500m to the SSE is the subect of a separate scheduling.

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:: 33754
Legacy System:: RSM

Sources

Other
fieldwork by OS archaeologist, (1987)
MPP fieldwork by R Waterhouse, (1999)

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.