Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow located on a gentle south facing slope on
the west edge of the King's Forest. The barrow is visible as an earthen mound
which stands to a height of about 0.8m and covers a roughly circular area with
a maximum diameter of about 32m. It is thought that the mound is encircled by
a ditch with an estimated width of 3m from which earth was quarried during the
construction of the barrow. Although this has now become completely infilled
and is no longer visible, it will survive as a buried feature.
The fences which run across the mound, and the surface of the forest track
which extends in a north-south direction on the eastern side of the monument
are excluded from the scheduling, although the 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.

The bowl barrow 650m south east of Telegraph Plantation survives well and will
retain archaeological information concerning its construction and the manner
and duration of its use. Evidence for the local environment prior to and
during that time will also be preserved in soils buried beneath the mound
and in the fills of the buried ditch. The proximity of the barrow to a number
of other barrows in this part of the Breckland region, and in particular the
Icklingham barrow cemetery which lies approximately 60m to the north, give it
additional interest. Many of these barrows are sited on land which was in the
past and in some cases still is heathland. Together these barrows give some
evidence of the character, development and density of the prehistoric
population in this area.

Source: Historic England