Details

This monument includes a bowl barrow situated on Dart Raffe Moor in a
prominent location overlooking the valley of the Little Dart River which forms
part of a cluster of at least three barrows. The barrow survives as a
circular flat topped mound 27.5m in diameter and 1.1m high. A slight hollow in
the centre of the mound may be the result of part early excavation, robbing or
recent animal poaching. The ditch, from which material was quarried to
construct the mound, surrounds it and survives as a buried feature c.4m wide,
except on the eastern side where a slight unsurveyable hollow is visible. The
southern side of the mound has seen limited disturbance as a result of a field
boundary and its ditch clipping the barrow.
The water trough on the top of the barrow is excluded from the monument,
although the ground beneath is included. Two other barrows lying to the north
east are the subject of separate schedulings (SM 28609 and SM 28610).

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.

Despite the construction of a field boundary against the mound, the bowl
barrow on Dart Raffe Moor lying 725m south west of Broadridge Farm survives
well and contains archaeological and environmental information relating to the
barrow and its surrounding landscape. This barrow forms part of a group of
three lying in a prominent visual location.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
Devon County Sites and Monuments Register, SS71NE10, (1982)
MPP fieldwork by H. Gerrard, (1995)

Source: Historic England