Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow located on a false crest towards the
southern tip of Acton Bank Hill. The barrow is visible as a plough-spread
mound 27m in diameter and 1.3m high on its northern upslope side and 2.5m high
on its downslope south side. Although there is no visible evidence of the
ditch from which material would have been quarried for the construction of the
barrow, one will survive as a buried feature 2m wide surrounding the mound.

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 being reduced by ploughing, the bowl barrow on Acton Bank remains a
good example of its class. It will contain primary archaeological evidence
relating to the construction of the barrow and its subsequent use.
Environmental evidence relating to the landscape in which it was constructed
will survive sealed beneath the mound and in the ditch fill. It is one of a
group of similar monuments occurring in this vicinity and so contributes
valuable information relating to the land use, social structure and burial
practices of the prehistoric community occupying this area of landscape during
the Bronze Age.

Source: Historic England