Bowl barrow at Emmets Post

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 partial early excavation and slight damage to its north west side by a clayworks road, the bowl barrow at Emmets Post survives well. Its mound may contain remains of a burial, while buried ditches will contain archaeological and environmental information relating to the barrow and the landscape in which it was constructed.

Details

This monument includes a bowl barrow of Late Neolithic to Bronze Age date, located on a level hilltop with wide views across the Upper Plym Valley to the north west. The barrow survives as a low mound measuring 12m in diameter and up to 1.5m high, with a 2m wide, 4m long and 0.4m deep oval depression in the centre, most likely representing excavation in antiquity. Although no longer visible at ground level, a quarry ditch, some 2m wide, will encircle the mound, surviving as a buried feature. A 19th century boundary stone, Listed Grade II, inserted into the south side of the mound bears the letters SM on its west side and LM on its east, denoting the boundary between the setts of the Shaugh Moor and Lee Moor china clay companies.

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:

34876

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Other
MPP fieldwork by R. Robinson, Robinson, R, (1983)
MPP fieldwork by R Waterhouse, Waterhouse, R, (2001)

End of official list entry

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