Bowl barrow at Hollow Heath

Summary

Bowl barrow located at Hollow Heath, most likely of Bronze Age date.

Reasons for Designation

The bowl barrow at Hollow Heath, most likely of Bronze Age date is scheduled for the following principal reasons:

* Survival: as a well preserved earthwork monument representing the diversity of burial practices, beliefs and social organisation amongst early prehistoric communities;

* Potential: for the stratified archaeological deposits which retain considerable potential to provide invaluable evidence not only for the individuals buried within but also evidence for the ideology, variation in burial practices and social organisation of the communities and social networks that were using the landscape in this way;

* Group value: for its close proximity to other related and contemporary scheduled monuments such as the bowl barrow north of Bodney Warren (NHLE 1431117), and two bowl barrows north-west of Water End Farm (NHLE 1431115). The barrow also forms part of a multi-period landscape unencumbered by modern development and therefore offers a very high level of archaeological potential to enable understanding of the continuity and change in the use of the landscape from the Bronze Age up to the present day.

History

The treatment, burial and commemoration of the dead have been a distinctive part of human life for millennia, and these activities have often left physical remains. The remains of the dead have been dealt with in remarkably varied ways in the past and it appears that, in the prehistoric period especially, only a small proportion of the population received a burial which has left traces detectable using current methods. Round barrows are distinctive burial monuments which can represent both individual burials as well as larger burial groups. They are one of the main sources of information about life in this period.

The main period of round barrow construction occurred in the Early Bronze Age between about 2200-1500 BC (a period when cremation succeeded inhumation as the primary burial rite), although Neolithic examples are known from as early as 3000 BC. In general round barrows comprise a rounded earthen mound or stone cairn, the earthen examples usually having a surrounding ditch and occasionally an outer bank. They range greatly in size from just 5m in diameter to as much as 40m, with the mounds ranging from slight rises to as much as 4m in height. They occur either in isolation or grouped as cemeteries and often acted as a focus for burials in later periods. Round barrows are the most numerous of the various prehistoric funerary monuments.

The most common form of round barrow is referred to as a bowl barrow. These are inverted pudding bowl-shaped mounds with slopes of varying profile, sometimes with a surrounding ditch and occasionally an outer bank.

The bowl barrow at Hollow Heath is believed to be Bronze Age in origin but no archaeological excavations have taken place. The bowl barrow was revealed in 2001 during hedge removal, and was recorded during a rapid identification survey carried out in 2002. Field walking on Hollow Heath from 1986 to 1987 recovered prehistoric flints, and remnants of post-medieval and undated pottery. The barrow lies in close proximity to other related and contemporary scheduled monuments such as the bowl barrow north of Bodney Warren (NHLE 1431117), and two bowl barrows north-west of Water End Farm (NHLE 1431115).

Details

Bowl barrow located at Hollow Heath, most likely of Bronze Age date.

PRINCIPAL ELEMENTS
The bowl barrow is located at the western boundary of Hollow Heath. It is clearly defined as a round mound, measuring approximately 25m in diameter and 1.2m in height. The bowl barrow is grass covered, and there is no ditch visible. A post and wire fence which serves as a boundary to the A1065 Swaffham to Mundford Road, cuts across the western side of the mound and clearly emphasises the profile of the bowl barrow. An L-plan services trench measuring approximately 0.5m wide and 0.5m deep is cut into the roadside verge and clips the western edge of the barrow.

EXTENT OF SCHEDULING
The scheduled area includes a 2m buffer zone around the circumference of the barrow.

Sources

Books and journals
Lawson, A J, Martin, E, Priddy, D, Taylor, A, The Barrows of East Anglia, (1981)
Davison, A, Cushion, B, An Archaeological survey of the Stanford Training Area 2000-2 in Norfolk Archaeology, Vol. 44, (2005), 602-616

Other
Cushion, B., STANTA ILMP Woodland Earthwork Rapid Identification Survey, 2002
Norfolk Historic Environment Record - 24730

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