Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow, which is part of a dispersed round barrow
cemetery extending over an area of c.1.3 sq km on and around Salthouse Heath.
The barrow is situated c.50m from the boundary between the parishes of
Cley next the Sea and Salthouse, to the east of it, and is visible as an
earthen mound standing to a height of c.0.6m and covering an area c.17m in
diameter. The mound is thought to be encircled by a ditch c.2.5m wide,
similar to ditches observed around other barrows in the area. This ditch, from
which earth was dug and used in the construction of the barrow, 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
22m.

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 350m north east of Swan Lodge survives well and will retain
archaeological information concerning its construction and the manner and
duration of its use. Evidence for the local environment during and prior to
this period is likely to be preserved also, in soils buried beneath the
mound. The barrow is a component of the largest 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
considerable diversity in the forms and rites of burial. The evidence
contained in the 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

Sources

Books and journals
Henderson, E, 'Proc Prehist Soc East Anglia' in Opening of a Barrow at Salthouse, Norfolk, , Vol. 2, (1918), 155
Other
6186: North Norfolk, Cley next the Sea.,
NAR TG 04 SE 12, (1980)

Source: Historic England