Details

Lower Thorpe bowl barrow lies 200m to the east of Lower Thorpe Farm and 500m
to the north east of Thorpe Mandeville village.
This Bronze Age bowl barrow is located on the brow of a hill and can be seen
standing as a prominent round mound which is one metre high in the centre and
has an overall diameter of 25m. There are traces of a ditch about 2.5m wide
on the western side. On the other sides the ditch has been levelled by
ploughing but is visible on aerial photographs. It is recorded that in 1806
this field was called Windmill Ground, and it is possible that the barrow was
reused as a windmill mound in more recent times.

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 Lower Thorpe barrow survives well and is of above average size.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Royal Commission on Historical Monuments of England, , Archaeological Sites in Northamptonshire

Source: Historic England