Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow which is within a dispersed round barrow
cemetery extending over an area of c.1.3 sq km. The barrow is situated on
the north side of a minor road which crosses the southern end of Salthouse
Heath, and is visible as an earthen mound standing to a height of c.1m and
covering a circular area c.24m in diameter. The mound is thought to be
encircled by a ditch c.3m wide similar to ditches which can still be seen
around other barrows in the area. This has become completely infilled and is
no longer visible on the ground surface, but will survive as a buried
feature. The estimated overall diameter of the barrow is therefore 30m.

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 450m north west of Lowes Farm shows no sign of having
undergone any major disturbance and will retain archaeological remains and
information concerning its construction and the manner and duration of its
use. Evidence for the local environment during and prior to that period is
likely to be preserved also, in soils buried beneath the mound. The barrow
is a component of the largest round barrow cemetery in Norfolk, and has
additional interest in that context. Limited investigations of other barrows
in the group have shown that the cemetery developed over several centuries and
includes different types of round barrow and considerable diversity in forms
and rites of burial. The evidence contained in the barrows as a group is
therefore of wider importance for the study of the character and development
of the prehistoric population of the area.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Lawson, A J, Martin, A E, Priddy, D, 'East Anglian Archaeol' in The Barrows of East Anglia, , Vol. 12, (1981), Pl.XI

Source: Historic England