Details

The monument includes Lumber Hill bowl barrow, which is situated 720m ENE of
Chippenham Stud, and occupies the highest point in a fairly level landscape.
It lies within an extensive area of burial mounds scattered across the high
chalk grounds of south east Cambridgeshire and north Hertfordshire.
Approximately 3km to the south lies a cluster of barrows, the Chippenham
barrow group, which are subject to separate schedulings.

The mound of the barrow in this scheduling, which now stands 0.5m high, has
been partly levelled by ploughing and covers an area of approximately 45m in
diameter. Its original diameter was probably about 40m, as a 1968 survey
suggests. The encircling ditch has become infilled over the years, and is
covered with the spread remains of the mound. It is thought to measure
approximately 4m wide by comparison with examples excavated elsewhere in the
region.

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.

Lumber Hill bowl barrow, 720m ENE of Chippenham Stud, which survives as a
slight earthwork, is well-preserved and appears to be unexcavated. It will
contain a wealth of archaeological evidence relating to activity on the site,
the manner and duration of use of the barrow, its construction, and the
landscape in which it was set. The monument is rare in being one of the few
remaining barrows from an extensive and dispersed round barrow cemetery, which
has largely been destroyed by ploughing.

Source: Historic England