Reasons for Designation
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. 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. Despite reduction in the heights of the mounds through cultivation, the two bowl barrows 535m ENE of Fairy Cross, forming part of a round barrow cemetery, survive comparatively well and will contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to their construction, longevity, relative chronologies, social organisation, territorial significance, ritual and funerary practices and overall landscape context.
Details
The monument, which falls into two areas of protection, includes two bowl barrows, situated on the summit of a high branching ridge forming the watershed between two tributaries of the River Lerryn. Both barrows survive as circular mounds with their surrounding quarry ditches, from which the mound construction material was derived, being preserved as buried features. The western mound measures 29m in diameter and 4.6m high and has a slight central hollow. The eastern mound measures 44m in diameter and 0.8m high.
Further surviving barrows in the extensive round barrow cemetery are the subject of separate schedulings.
Sources: HER:-
PastScape Monument No:-1031156 and 1031157
