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