Ancient Monuments

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Crop mark of a bowl barrow at Wigston Parva

A Scheduled Monument in Wigston Parva, Leicestershire

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Coordinates

Latitude: 52.4991 / 52°29'56"N

Longitude: -1.3135 / 1°18'48"W

OS Eastings: 446698.211269

OS Northings: 289245.366509

OS Grid: SP466892

Mapcode National: GBR 7MM.BQJ

Mapcode Global: VHCT4.5GY0

Entry Name: Crop mark of a bowl barrow at Wigston Parva

Scheduled Date: 24 February 1971

Last Amended: 19 February 1992

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1010200

English Heritage Legacy ID: 17076

County: Leicestershire

Civil Parish: Wigston Parva

Traditional County: Leicestershire

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): Leicestershire

Church of England Parish: Sharnford with Wigston Parva

Church of England Diocese: Leicester

Details

The site is situated 0.5km north-west of High Cross on land sloping gently
towards the Watling Street Roman road. It includes a bowl barrow known to
exist from aerial photographs which show that the ditches which
surrounded the barrow mound still survive. The site now retains only below
ground remains, the upstanding barrow having been reduced by continued
agricultural use.

Crop mark evidence reveals three concentric ring ditches showing successive
ditch re-cutting around one barrow. This is considered to be 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.

Although this site retains no clearly visible above-ground features it is
known that it is a complex and unusual example which retains evidence of
several phases of reconstruction.

Source: Historic England

Sources

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

Source: Historic England

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