Bowl barrow 425m SSE of Finger Post Plantation: part of Great Bircham barrow group

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.

The bowl barrow 425m SSE of Finger Post Plantation survives well. The antiquarian investigation of the mound was limited in extent, and archaeological information concerning the construction of the barrow and the manner and duration of its use, as well as evidence for the local environment at that time, will be contained in the barrow mound, in the soils buried beneath the mound and in the fill of the buried ditch. The monument and the information it retains have additional interest and importance in relation to the two adjacent round barrows to north and south of it, and to another, 470m to the north, which forms part of the same group.

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow which is the middle one of three round barrows aligned north west-south east above a slight north east facing slope. They stand on what was once heathland in the Good Sands region of upland north west Norfolk. The barrow is visible as an earthen mound c.1.7m high and covering a circular area c.30m in diameter. Records of the barrow as it appeared in the 1930s indicate that the mound is encircled by a ditch, which at that time was marked by a hollow up to 3.5m wide and 0.3m deep in the ground surface. The ditch, from which earth was dug and used in the construction of the barrow, has now become completely infilled, but will survive as a buried feature. The barrow mound was investigated during limited excavations on the barrow group in 1842. The posts of a fence set around the foot of the mound are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath them 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:

21351

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, LV, The Ancient Burial Mounds of England, (1956)
Lukis, F C, A Brief Account of the Barrows near Bircham Magna, Norfolk, (1843)

Other
Bamford, H M, (1993)

End of official list entry

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