Ancient Monuments

History on the Ground

This site is entirely user-supported. See how you can help.

Bowl barrow 500m north of East Water

A Scheduled Monument in Priddy, Somerset

We don't have any photos of this monument yet. Why don't you be the first to send us one?

Upload Photo »

Approximate Location Map
Large Map »

If Google Street View is available, the image is from the best available vantage point looking, if possible, towards the location of the monument. Where it is not available, the satellite view is shown instead.

Coordinates

Latitude: 51.2604 / 51°15'37"N

Longitude: -2.6647 / 2°39'52"W

OS Eastings: 353717.005757

OS Northings: 151461.961868

OS Grid: ST537514

Mapcode National: GBR MM.0YHY

Mapcode Global: VH89K.RLN3

Entry Name: Bowl barrow 500m north of East Water

Scheduled Date: 19 December 1929

Last Amended: 31 January 1992

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1010637

English Heritage Legacy ID: 13829

County: Somerset

Civil Parish: Priddy

Traditional County: Somerset

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): Somerset

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow set below the crest of North Hill 500m
north of East Water. It comprises a mound 13m in diameter and c.2m high
at its highest point. Although no longer visible at ground level a ditch,
from which material was quarried during the construction of the monument,
surrounds the barrow mound. This has become infilled over the years but now
survives as a buried feature c.2m wide. The monument is an outlier of the
Priddy Nine Barrows barrow cemetery set on the crest of North Hill.

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 bowl barrow 500m north of East Water survives well and has good
potential for the recovery of archaeological and environmental evidence
relating both to the monument and the landscape in which it was constructed.
The importance of the monument is enhanced by its association with the `Priddy
Nine Barrows' barrow cemetery 200m to the east, and its proximity to a second
barrow cemetery 600m to the northeast. Numerous other burial monuments of the
same date also survive in the area. Such evidence gives an indication of the
intensity of occupation and the nature of social organisation present in the
area during the Bronze Age period.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, L, 'Proceedings of the Somerset Archaeology and Natural Hist Soc' in Somerset Barrows Part II, , Vol. Vol 115, (1971), 113
Tratman, E K, 'Proceedings of the Univ of Bristol Speleological Society' in Fieldwork, , Vol. Vol 2(3), (1925), 284

Source: Historic England

Other nearby scheduled monuments

AncientMonuments.uk is an independent online resource and is not associated with any government department. All government data published here is used under licence. Please do not contact AncientMonuments.uk for any queries related to any individual ancient or schedued monument, planning permission related to scheduled monuments or the scheduling process itself.

AncientMonuments.uk is a Good Stuff website.