Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow surviving in a private garden and set on
the crest of a gentle south-facing slope. The barrow mound is of irregular
shape measuring 28m from east-west, 16m from north-south and surviving to a
height of 1.5m. A ditch, no longer visible at ground level, surrounds the
barrow mound and survives as a buried feature c.3m wide.
Sheds situated on the west of the barrow mound are excluded from the
scheduling although 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.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

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.

There is no evidence for formal excavation of the Towngate Farm barrow and it
survives well. The site therefore has considerable archaeological potential.

Source: Historic England