Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow situated on level ground in the south
western part of Salthouse Heath, 80m east of Bixes Lane and the boundary
between the parishes of Salthouse and Cley next the Sea. The barrow, which is
within a dispersed round barrow cemetery extending over an area of c.1.3 sq
km, is visible as an earthen mound standing to a height of c.1.8m and covering
a circular area c.9m in diameter. The mound is thought to be encircled by a
ditch c.2m wide, similar to ditches which can still be seen around other
barrows in the area. This has become completely infilled and is no longer
visible on the ground surface, but will survive as a buried feature, and the
estimated overall diameter of the barrow is therefore 13m. The barrow was
the subject of a limited excavation carried out in 1914, from which sherds of
Bronze Age pottery were recovered, and the remains of a rectilinear trench
c.0.3m deep and between 1m and 2m wide in the surface of the mound are
believed to mark the area of this investigation.

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 400m east of Swan Lodge survives well, despite the limited
excavation of the mound. The area disturbed by this excavation is small in
relation to the monument as a whole, which retains archaeological information
concerning the construction of the barrow and the manner and duration of its
use. Evidence for the local environment before and during that period is
likely to be preserved also, in soils buried beneath the mound. The barrow
is a component of the largest round barrow cemetery in Norfolk and has
additional interest in that context. The limited investigations of this and
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 therefore 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

Source: Historic England