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Two bowl barrows 900m and 1000m east of Old Manor Farm

A Scheduled Monument in Great Staughton, Cambridgeshire

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Coordinates

Latitude: 52.2548 / 52°15'17"N

Longitude: -0.3517 / 0°21'6"W

OS Eastings: 512606.1

OS Northings: 263123.6578

OS Grid: TL126631

Mapcode National: GBR H23.MWL

Mapcode Global: VHFPQ.VLDC

Entry Name: Two bowl barrows 900m and 1000m east of Old Manor Farm

Scheduled Date: 20 February 1962

Last Amended: 18 September 2001

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1020486

English Heritage Legacy ID: 33358

County: Cambridgeshire

Civil Parish: Great Staughton

Traditional County: Huntingdonshire

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): Cambridgeshire

Church of England Parish: Great Staughton St Andrew

Church of England Diocese: Ely

Details

The monument includes two Bronze Age bowl barrows, in two areas of protection
and situated 900m and 1000m east of Old Manor Farm in a field called Mill
Field. The easternmost mound is partly overlain by a hedge and stands
approximately 0.4m high with a diameter of 26m. The southern part has been
reduced by ploughing. The mound was surrounded by a ditch from which earth was
dug in the construction of the mound, which is no longer visible but will
survive as a buried feature, about 3m wide.

Approximately 100m to the west are the remains of the second barrow. The
mound, about 15m in diameter, has been reduced by ploughing, yet buried
features, including the remains of an encircling ditch approximately 3m wide,
are thought to survive.

The two bowl barrows were formerly part of a group of four, marked on an 1827
map, of which two have not been identified. They may have been part of a
larger Bronze Age cemetery, as suggested by evidence of further barrows to the
north east.

One of the barrow mounds on Mill Field was probably reused as a mill mound, as
is apparent from 18th and 19th century maps and building material scattered on
the site. The mounds are favourably situated on the crest of a hill, 900m east
of a medieval manor, and 500m south east of the remains of a medieval and/or
post-medieval village.

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 barrows 900m and 1000m east of Old Manor Farm are situated in an
archaeologically rich Bronze Age and medieval landscape. The reuse of one of
the mounds during the medieval period indicates its continued importance as a
local landmark throughout the centuries. As the barrows have not been
excavated, archaeological deposits are thought to survive well with the
potential for the recovery of valuable artefactual and ecological evidence for
over 4000 years of human activity.

Source: Historic England

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