Details

The monument is a bowl barrow located on a local high point amongst housing
development in Lavenham Close. It includes a low oval earthen mound with
poorly defined edges up to 0.5m high with maximum dimensions of 18m by 15m.
Evidence of a Bronze Age cremation burial was found in 1973 when 19 small
fragments of pottery, some decorated with impressed dots, and a small quantity
of calcined bones were recovered from the spoil of a Home Guard trench on the
barrow.

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 limited disturbance to the monument by a combination of wartime Home
Guard use and recent landscaping, the bowl barrow in Lavenham Close survives
reasonably well. Investigation of the spoil from the Home Guard trench located
human remains and pottery, and further evidence of interments and grave goods
will exist within the mound and upon the old landsurface beneath.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Davey, P J, 'Cheshire Archaeological Bulletin' in Cheshire Archaeological Bulletin, , Vol. 2, (1974), 36
Thompson, F H, 'Trans Lancs and Chesh Antiq Soc' in Notes on Excavations and Finds in Cheshire During 1960, , Vol. 70, (), 65
Other
Darvill,T., MPP Single Monument Class Description - Bowl Barrows, (1988)
SMR No. 1552/1/2, Cheshire SMR, Round Barrow 92m N of Beech Hall School, (1987)

Source: Historic England