Bowl barrow 530m south east of Duncombe Court, forming an outlying part of a barrow cemetery.

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

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1019789
Date first listed:: 09-May-2001

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1019789
Date first listed:: 09-May-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:: Charleton
National Grid Reference:: SX 75805 43371

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 caused by cultivation, the bowl barrow 530m south east of Duncombe Court survives well. The mound and its surrounding ditch will contain archaeological and environmental information relating to its construction and use as well as the contemporary landscape.

Details

This monument includes a large Late Neolithic to Bronze Age bowl barrow. It forms an outlier to 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 five barrows to the south form the subjects of separate schedulings. The barrow is located on a gentle north facing slope with wide local views to the north and west. It is composed of grey-brown soil with many blue slate fragments. It measures 30m in diameter, surviving up to 1.2m high. The surrounding quarry ditch is 9m wide and 0.2m deep.

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:: 33777
Legacy System:: RSM

Sources

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

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.