Details

The monument includes two bowl barrows within a dispersed round barrow
cemetery extending over an area of c.1.3 sq km on and immediately around
Salthouse Heath. The two barrows, which are situated c.140m from the boundary
between the parishes of Cley next the Sea and Salthouse, to the north east and
east, are visible as earthen mounds c.23m apart on a north east to south west
alignment. The larger mound, to the north east, stands to a height of c.1m
and covers a circular area with a diameter of c.14m. The second mound
measures c.1m in height and c.12m in diameter. It is thought that each of the
mounds is encircled by a ditch c.2.5m wide, from which earth was dug and used
in the construction of the barrows. These ditches have become infilled and are
no longer visible on the ground surface, but will survive as buried features.
The estimated overall diameters of the mounds are therefore 19m and 17m
respectively.

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 barrows 260m north east of Swan Lodge survive well, and the mound of
the smaller barrow, to the south west, is particularly well defined. They
will retain archaeological information concerning their construction and the
manner and duration of their use. Evidence for the local environment
before and during that period is also likely to be preserved in soils buried
beneath the mounds. The barrows are a component of the largest round barrow
cemetery in Norfolk, and have 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