Bowl barrow 400m south east of Moat Farm

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 south east of Moat Farm survives well as a substantial earthwork feature and represents a good example of the monument type in an area where the survival of prehistoric features as earthworks is rare. The association of the barrow with a variety of landscape features, including the parish boundary and the remains of medieval ridge-and-furrow cultivation, indicate that it has served as an important landmark for a long period. Its possible reuse as a mill mound in the post-medieval period would have involved little alteration, and the monument will thus include intact archaeological deposits which will provide information relating to the construction of the mound and to its use in burial rituals over an extended period.

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow situated approximately 400m south east of Moat Farm, standing on the crest of a hill on the parish boundary between Newton and Walcot. The mound, which is subcircular in shape, measures about 15m in diameter and survives to an average height of 1.2m. The top of the mound is flat and measures about 10m in diameter. On the north and west sides of the mound are the remains of a shallow ditch, about 3m in width, from which material used in the construction of the mound would have been quarried. On the north side of the ditch is a linear bank representing part of the headland of a field of ridge-and-furrow cultivation which was laid out against it in the medieval period. The mound itself may have been reused as the base for a windmill in the post-medieval period.

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:

22690

Legacy System:

RSM

End of official list entry

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