Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow, which is within a dispersed round barrow
cemetery extending over an area of c.1.3 sq km on and immediately around
Salthouse Heath. The barrow is situated c.80m to the south and west of the
boundary between the parishes of Cley next the Sea and Salthouse. It is
visible as an earthen mound standing to a height of c.0.7m and covering a
circular area c.24m in diameter. The mound is thought to be encircled by a
ditch c.3m wide, from which earth was dug and used in the construction of the
barrow. This ditch has become infilled and is no longer visible on the ground
surface, but will survive as a buried feature. The estimated overall diameter
of the barrow is therefore 30m. Across the centre of the mound, running north-
south, there is an old trench c.8m long, 1m wide and 0.4m deep, probably dug
during World War II, when the heath and surrounding area were used for
military training. The surface of the mound to the west of the trench has been
raised to a total height of c.0.9m by upcast from the digging, resulting in an
asymmetrical profile.

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.

Although the bowl barrow 400m north of Swan Lodge has suffered damage, the
disturbance affects only c.2% of the total area, and the monument as a whole
survives well. It will retain archaeological information concerning the
construction of the barrow and the manner and duration of its use, and
evidence for the local environment before and during that period will be
preserved in the mound, in soils buried beneath it, and in the fill of the
buried ditch. The barrow is a component of the largest round barrow cemetery
in Norfolk and has additional interest in that context. Limited investigations
of some of the other barrows in the group have shown that the cemetery was in
use over several centuries, and includes different types of round barrow and a
considerable diversity in the forms and rites of burial. The evidence
contained in these barrows as a group is of wider significance for the study
of the character and development of the prehistoric population of the area.

Source: Historic England