Three bowl barrows 310m west of Home Farm, forming part of a round barrow cemetery

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 some damage, the three bowl barrows 310m west of Home Farm, represent an important group within a wider round barrow cemetery. The mounds and their surrounding ditches will contain archaeological and environmental information relating to their construction and use, and the contemporary landscape.

Details

This monument includes three Late Neolithic to Bronze Age bowl barrows, scattered across a south facing slope on a SSE to NNW alignment, with local views across the Kingsbridge Estuary to the east and west. The barrows form part of a wider round barrow cemetery which contained at least 12 barrows in all. Six of these are no longer considered to be of national importance as they are ploughed flat, while the remaining three barrows to the north and south east form the subject of separate schedulings. The eastern mound measures 43m in diameter and survives up to 1.5m high with an encircling ditch 10m wide and 0.2m deep. The central mound measures 35m in diameter and up to 0.2m high, and the western barrow is 28m in diameter and up to 0.5m high. Both of these mounds have encircling quarry ditches which survive as buried features. The road surfacings 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. 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:

33776

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Other
MPP fieldwork by R Waterhouse, Waterhouse, R, (2000)

End of official list entry

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