Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow located on heathland on the high ground of
the Cromer ridge, close to the steep northern edge which fronts the coast. The
barrow is visible as an earthen mound standing to a height of c.1m and
covering a sub-circular area with a diameter of c.14m. The mound is thought to
be encircled by a ditch from which earth was dug and used in the construction
of the barrow. This will survive as a buried feature, although it has become
completely infilled and can no longer be traced on the ground surface. The
estimated overall diameter of the barrow, including a ditch, is c.20m.

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.

The bowl barrow on Kelling Heath survives well and will contain archaeological
information concerning its construction and the manner and duration of its
use. Evidence for the local environment during that period will also be
preserved in soils buried beneath the barrow mound. The barrow is one of
several located between 1km and 2km east of a large barrow cemetery on and
around Salthouse Heath, and has additional interest in that context. The
cemetery includes different types of round barrow, and limited investigations
of some of them have revealed a considerable diversity in the forms and rites
of burial, spanning a period of several centuries. The evidence contained in
these and the outlying barrows as a group has, therefore, wider importance for
the study of the distribution, character and development of the prehistoric
population of the area.

Source: Historic England