Bowl barrow 1200m ENE of Crow Hall: one of a group of round barrows on Harpley Common

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 1200m ENE of Crow Hall is part of one of the principal barrow groups surviving in north west Norfolk, and will retain archaeological information which has additional interest in this context. The scale of the disturbance caused by limited investigation of the mound in the past is small in relation to the monument as a whole, and evidence for the construction of the barrow, for the manner and duration of its use, and for the local environment at that time, will be contained in the mound, in the soil buried beneath the mound and in the fill of a buried ditch. The barrow group as a whole is of wider importance for the study of the character and development of the prehistoric population of the area.

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow which is one of a dispersed group of round barrows, sited on a broad ridge at the western edge of the Good Sands upland region of north west Norfolk. The barrow stands 600m east of Peddars Way and is visible as an earthen mound c.1m high and covering a circular area c.16m in diameter. It is considered probable that the mound is encircled by a ditch which has become infilled but which will survive as a buried feature. A limited investigation of the mound was carried out in 1843 by F C Lukis.

The barrow group as a whole is aligned on a north west-south east axis over a distance of c.2.6km.

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:

21339

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Other
MS notebook in Guernsey Museum, Lukis, FC, (1843)

End of official list entry

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