Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow situated on the crest of Box Hill, a
steep south-facing escarpment on the edge of an area of chalk downland. The
barrow has a mound 15m in diameter and 1.7m high, the north-west
quadrant of which has been disturbed suggesting that the mound was once
partially excavated. Surrounding the mound is a ditch from which material was
quarried during the construction of the monument. This has become partially
infilled over the years but is visible to the north-east of the mound as an
earthwork 3m wide and 0.5m deep; the remainder survives as a buried feature.
The tarmac surface of the road, which is raised on the north-west side of the
barrow, is excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath 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.

Despite partial excavation, the bowl barrow 250m north-west of Boxhurst on Box
Hill survives comparatively well and contains archaeological remains and
environmental evidence relating to both the monument and the landscape in
which it was constructed.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, L V, 'Surrey Archaeological Collections' in An Analysis And List Of Surrey Barrows, , Vol. 42, (1934), 51

Source: Historic England