Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow within Seven Hills barrow cemetery,
situated c.100m west of the most densely clustered group in the cemetery, in a
narrow belt of woodland bounded by the A1156, to the north, and the Ipswich-
Felixstowe railway line to the south. The barrow, which is conspicuous from
the minor road crossing the wood immediately to the west, is visible as an
earthen mound standing to a height of 1.4m and covering a circular area c.24m
in diameter. The mound is encircled by a ditch, from which earth was dug and
used during construction of the barrow. This has become completely infilled,
but survives as a buried feature, estimated to be 3m in width.

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 barrow 740m south-east of White House Farm is a component of one of the
best examples of a round barrow cemetery in Suffolk. Most such cemeteries
developed over a considerable period of time, often many centuries, and in
some cases acted as a focus for burials as late as the early medieval period.
They exhibit considerable diversity of burial rite, plan and form, frequently
including different types of round barrow and, wherever large scale
investigation beyond barrows has been undertaken, revealing contemporary or
later 'flat' burials between the barrow mounds. The barrow survives well and
retains important archaeological information, in itself and in relation to the
other barrows in the cemetery. Evidence concerning its construction, the
manner and duration of its use, and also the local environment, at and prior
to the time of its construction, will be preserved in the mound and in the
soils buried beneath it. Seven Hills cemetery is part of a larger group of
round barrows and circular ditched enclosures which extend in a line to the
south-east, over a distance of 3km, to Levington Heath. The former parish
boundary between Nacton, to the south, and Bucklesham and Foxhall, to the
north, follows the same line, showing a relationship which is of particular
interest for the study of the prehistoric and medieval landscape history of
the area.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Wodderspoon, J, Memorials of Ipswich, (1850)
Other
Sherlock, D, AM7, (1976)
Suffolk SMR ACQ30, 31,

Source: Historic England