Bowl barrow 100m north of Lishaperhill

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 reduction in its height through cultivation and some disturbance from the creation of field boundaries, the bowl barrow 100m north of Lishaperhill will contain both archaeological and environmental information relating to the monument and the surrounding landscape.

Details

This monument includes a bowl barrow situated on an upland ridge overlooking the valley of a tributary to the River Tamar; it also lies just to the east of the canal connecting to the Tamar Lakes via the Bude Aqueduct. The monument includes an oval mound which measures 14.6m long north to south by 12.6m wide east to west and is up to 0.7m high. The surrounding quarry ditch from which material to construct the mound was derived is visible to the south where it measures up to 2.6m wide and 0.1m deep; elsewhere it is preserved as a buried feature. The barrow has been cut on the eastern side by a ditched field boundary and partially cut by a field boundary which crosses the monument on the northern side. The field boundaries which cross the monument on the northern and eastern sides are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath these features 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:

34272

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Other
Devon County Sites and Monuments Register, SS20NE507, (1986)

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