Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow located on a plateau 50m south of
Swynnerton cricket ground. It survives as a slightly oval earth and stone
mound up to 2.5m high with maximum dimensions of 33m by 32m. The barrow's
centre has been partly mutilated by the digging of two small pits up to 0.4m
deep. This limited investigation was not recorded. In 1990 an Anglo-Saxon
pendant and a copper alloy disc were found on the site.

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 limited disturbance of the monument's centre the bowl barrow in
Swynnerton Park survives well. It is a rare example in Staffordshire of the
re-use in early medieval times of this class of monument and will contain
undisturbed archaeological deposits within the mound and upon the old
landsurface.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
Darvill,T., MPP Single Monument Class Description - Bowl Barrows, (1988)
SMR No. 501, Staffs SMR, Mound - Swynnerton Park,
To Robinson K D MPPFW, Darlington, J (Staffs Borough Council), (1991)

Source: Historic England