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Bowl barrow: part of Leatherhead Down round barrow cemetery

A Scheduled Monument in Leatherhead South, Surrey

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Coordinates

Latitude: 51.2786 / 51°16'43"N

Longitude: -0.3019 / 0°18'6"W

OS Eastings: 518532.371447

OS Northings: 154646.75826

OS Grid: TQ185546

Mapcode National: GBR HFZ.NHB

Mapcode Global: VHGS1.Q474

Entry Name: Bowl barrow: part of Leatherhead Down round barrow cemetery

Scheduled Date: 13 January 1995

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1007886

English Heritage Legacy ID: 20179

County: Surrey

Electoral Ward/Division: Leatherhead South

Traditional County: Surrey

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): Surrey

Church of England Parish: Leatherhead

Church of England Diocese: Guildford

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow, situated on a broad east-west spur in an
area of chalk downland, forming part of a round barrow cemetery which once
contained at least seven barrows, three of which survive. The barrow has a
mound 20m north-south by 15m east-west which survives to a height of 1m.
Surrounding the mound is a ditch from which material was quarried during the
construction of the monument. This is no longer visible at ground level having
become infilled over the years, but survives as a buried feature c.3m wide.

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

Round barrow cemeteries date to the Bronze Age (c.2000-700 BC). They comprise
closely-spaced groups of up to 30 round barrows - rubble or earthen mounds
covering single or multiple burials. Most cemeteries developed over a
considerable period of time, often many centuries, and in some cases acted as
a focus for burials as late as the early medieval period. They exhibit
considerable diversity of burial rite, plan and form, frequently including
several different types of round barrow, occasionally associated with earlier
long barrows. Where large scale investigation has been undertaken around them,
contemporary or later "flat" burials between the barrow mounds have often been
revealed. Round barrow cemeteries occur across most of lowland Britain, with a
marked concentration in Wessex. In some cases, they are clustered around other
important contemporary monuments such as henges. Often occupying prominent
locations, they are a major historic element in the modern landscape, whilst
their diversity and their longevity as a monument type provide important
information on the variety of beliefs and social organisation amongst early
prehistoric communities. They are particularly representative of their period
and a substantial proportion of surviving or partly-surviving examples are
considered worthy of protection.

One of only three surviving of an originally larger cemetery, the
bowl barrow on Leatherhead Down survives comparatively well and contains
archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the monument,
the cemetery of which it formed a part and the landscape in which the cemetery
was constructed.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Poulton, R, O'Connell, M G, 'Surrey Archaeological Collections' in Recent Discoveries South Of Tyrell's Wood Golf Course Near Leatherhead, , Vol. 75, (1984), 289-292

Source: Historic England

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