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Bowl barrow 90m north-west of the footbridge: one of three round barrows on Shelley Common

A Scheduled Monument in Ongar, Essex

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Coordinates

Latitude: 51.7236 / 51°43'25"N

Longitude: 0.2392 / 0°14'21"E

OS Eastings: 554760.098487

OS Northings: 205139.61201

OS Grid: TL547051

Mapcode National: GBR MGL.TJ4

Mapcode Global: VHHMH.3YB1

Entry Name: Bowl barrow 90m north-west of the footbridge: one of three round barrows on Shelley Common

Scheduled Date: 17 December 1982

Last Amended: 28 July 1992

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1009243

English Heritage Legacy ID: 20660

County: Essex

Civil Parish: Ongar

Traditional County: Essex

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): Essex

Church of England Parish: Chipping Ongar with Shelley

Church of England Diocese: Chelmsford

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow situated on the flood plain of the Cripsey
Brook, 650m north-west of Shelley Church. It is visible as an earthen mound
which measures 5.5m in diameter and 0.3m in height. A ditch, from which
material was quarried during the construction of the monument, surrounds the
barrow mound. This has become infilled over the years but survives as a
buried feature c.2m wide.

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 barrow 90m north-west of the footbridge on Shelley Common is well
preserved and will retain archaeological information and environmental
evidence relating to the monument and the landscape in which it was
constructed. Two other round barrows survive on Shelley Common. As a group
these will provide a valuable insight into the nature and intensity of Bronze
Age activities in the area.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
Information from SMR (NO 141),

Source: Historic England

Other nearby scheduled monuments

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