Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow situated on the crest of a prominent sandy
ridge. The barrow has an oval mound 33m east-west by 28m north-south and is
1.8m high. Surrounding this is a ditch from which material was quarried
during the construction of the monument. Although no longer visible at ground
level, having become infilled over the years, the ditch survives as a buried
feature c.3m wide.
The barrow was partially excavated in the 1890s when traces of a cremation
burial were discovered beneath the mound. Hundreds of pieces of worked flint
and tools dating to the Mesolithic period were also discovered in the make-up
of the mound and surrounding area, showing that the barrow was constructed on
a much earlier flint-working site.
Excluded from the scheduling are all fences and fence posts 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.

Despite partial excavation, the bowl barrow in Millpond Wood survives
comparatively well and contains archaeological remains and environmental
evidence realting to the monument and the landscape in which it was
constructed.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
'Archaeologia Cantiana' in Archaeologia Cantiana, , Vol. 39, (1927)
Abbott, W L, 'Journal of Anthropology' in Wilderness Barrow, , Vol. 25, (1895)

Source: Historic England