Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow which is situated on the northern facing
slope of the chalk hills, some 200m to the south east of the Royston Road
(formerly the A10)) and 40m to the NNW of a second, more conspicuous barrow
known as Grinnel Hill. In its original condition the monument would have
served as a prominent local land mark, clearly visible from the lower ground
to the north and west. Successive ploughing has, however, reduced the size of
the mound, which now survives to a maximum height of c.0.2m. Material for the
construction of the barrow was quarried from a ditch, measuring some 20m in
diameter and 2.5m in width, which surrounds the mound. Over the years this
ditch has become infilled, yet it survives as a buried feature which has been
recorded by aerial photography both as a distinct soil mark and through the
differential growth of crops.
The barrow is apparently unexcavated and its precise date of construction is
uncertain. However, it forms part of a wider group of similar monuments which
extend across the eastern Chiltern Hills, to the north and west of Royston,
many of which were investigated in the 19th century and found to contain
remains dated to the Bronze Age.

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 the reduction caused by prolonged ploughing, the bowl barrow to the
north of Grinnel Hill will retain archaeological information within the silts
of the surrounding ditch relating to the monument, and further archaeological
deposits, including funerary remains, will survive within deeper features
located beneath the mound.
The importance of the monument is enhanced by its proximity to the well
preserved barrow some 40m to the SSE (Grinnel Hill), comparison with which
will provide information concerning the variation and development of Bronze
Age burial practices.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Neville, R C, Sepulchra Exposita, (1848), 17-27
Other
Cambridgeshire County Council, 08883 Soil mark on Grinnel Hill, (1985)
CUCAP, RC8/CK106, (1967)
NMR, NMR 3743/3/274, (1976)
Stephenson, M, An Initial Survey of Prehistory in the Royston Area, 1980, Undergraduate dissertation

Source: Historic England