Ancient Monuments

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Town Low bowl barrow

A Scheduled Monument in Butterton, Staffordshire

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Coordinates

Latitude: 53.1057 / 53°6'20"N

Longitude: -1.8755 / 1°52'31"W

OS Eastings: 408431.508074

OS Northings: 356508.648551

OS Grid: SK084565

Mapcode National: GBR 367.6N9

Mapcode Global: WHCDQ.565F

Entry Name: Town Low bowl barrow

Scheduled Date: 9 October 1981

Last Amended: 18 September 1992

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1010120

English Heritage Legacy ID: 13557

County: Staffordshire

Civil Parish: Butterton

Traditional County: Staffordshire

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): Staffordshire

Church of England Parish: Butterton St Bartholomew

Church of England Diocese: Lichfield

Details

The monument includes Town Low bowl barrow, located on a local high point at
the eastern end of a broad ridge 290m east of Lanehouse Farm and surmounted by
a small enclosed plantation. It survives as a sub-oval flat mound 0.8m high
with maximum dimensions of 28m north-south by 19m east-west. There is a
shallow pit 2m diameter by 0.3m deep a little to the south of the barrow's
centre. The barrow is not known to have been excavated.
The drystone wall and adjacent fence are excluded from the scheduling but 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 the existence of a walled plantation upon the central and eastern
areas of the monument Town Low bowl barrow survives reasonably well. It is a
rare example in the Peak District of an unexcavated bowl barrow.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Barnatt, J, The Peak District Barrow Survey (1989), (1989)
Other
Darvill, T, MPP Single Monument Class Descriptions - Bowl Barrows, (1989)

Source: Historic England

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