Details

The monument at Wigst on Parva includes a barrow situated on relatively high
ground 0.5km north-west of High Cross.

The bowl barrow is roughly circular, about 60m in diameter following
plough spread and 1m high with no visible earthwork ditch. Aerial photography
has shown this site to possess four concentric surrounding ditches and it is
considered that this represents a multi-phase Bronze Age barrow 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.

The site at Wigston Parva is one of the few barrows in Leicestershire which
still exists as an earthwork. It also displays unusual evidence of
multi-phasing.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Pickering, J, Hartley, R F, Past Worlds in a Landscape, (1985), 56-7

Source: Historic England