Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow and an adjacent group of seven small
barrows located on the western side of Salthouse Heath, 25m north of the
parish boundary between Salthouse and Cley next the Sea. The barrows form a
cluster within a dispersed round barrow cemetery which extends over an area of
c.1.3 sq km. The principal barrow is visible as an earthen mound, standing
to a height of c.0.8m and covering a circular area c.15m in diameter. A
shallow depression in the surface of the mound, extending from the south
eastern edge towards the centre, perhaps marks the site of an old
investigation. It is probable that the mound is encircled by a ditch, and
although this ditch has become infilled and can no longer be traced on the
ground surface, it will survive as a buried feature. The estimated overall
width of the barrow, including a ditch, is c.21m. The smaller barrows are
visible as regularly formed mounds of earth and gravel c.0.3m to 0.4m in
height and from 4m to 5m in diameter, and lie within an area of c.1500 sq m to
the east and south east of the larger mound. Two of them are directly in line
to the east of it, at a distance of 4m and 11m respectively. The second is the
larger and better defined, measuring c.5m in diameter and c.0.4m in height.
The northern side of the nearer mound has been cut into by the digging of a
narrow L-shaped trench across the north eastern and north western edges, the
trench being marked by a shallow rectilinear hollow c.0.7m wide and c.2.6m
long. The remaining five barrows are in a south west to north east alignment
to the east of these. At the southern end of the alignment are two contiguous
mounds. One measures c.4.5m in diameter and 0.4m in height, and the second, to
the south of it and c.22m south east of the principal barrow, is slightly
smaller. The third, fourth and fifth barrows of the alignment, which are all
of very similar size and appearance, are spaced at intervals of 13m and 18m
apart and lie respectively c.31m ESE, c.46m east and c.65m ENE of the
principal barrow. Several similar small mounds, located to the east of this
group, were excavated in 1936 and 1939 and each was found to cover an urn of
Middle Bronze Age type (c.1200-1000 BC) containing cremated human bone.

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

Round barrow cemeteries date to the Bronze Age (c.2000-700 BC). They comprise
closely-spaced groups of up to 30 round barrows - rubble or earthen mounds
covering single or multiple burials. Most cemeteries developed over a
considerable period of time, often many centuries, and in some cases acted as
a focus for burials as late as the early medieval period. They exhibit
considerable diversity of burial rite, plan and form, frequently including
several different types of round barrow, occasionally associated with earlier
long barrows. Where large scale investigation has been undertaken around them,
contemporary or later "flat" burials between the barrow mounds have often been
revealed. Round barrow cemeteries occur across most of lowland Britain, with a
marked concentration in Wessex. In some cases, they are clustered around other
important contemporary monuments such as henges. Often occupying prominent
locations, they are a major historic element in the modern landscape, whilst
their diversity and their longevity as a monument type provide important
information on the variety of beliefs and social organisation amongst early
prehistoric communities. They are particularly representative of their period
and a substantial proportion of surviving or partly-surviving examples are
considered worthy of protection.

The barrows 550m NNE of Swan Lodge are of particular interest as an associated
group within a large cemetery whose visible components include a variety of
different barrow types and forms of burial. The principal bowl barrow survives
well, and the area of possible disturbance noted on the south eastern side of
the mound is small in relation to the monument as a whole. This barrow will
retain archaeological information concerning its construction and the manner
and duration of its use, and evidence for the local environment during that
period is likely to be preserved in soils buried beneath the mound. The
adjacent mounds are unusual in their small size and will contain evidence for
the later use of this part of the cemetery which, in the context of the
cemetery as a whole, is of value for the study of the development of the
prehistoric population of the area. The ground between the barrows is also
likely to include buried archaeological features containing additional
information relating to the cemetery and its use.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Clarke, R R, 'Archaeol J' in The Iron Age in Norfolk and Suffolk, (1939), 20
Clarke, R R, 'Archaeol J' in The Iron Age in Norfolk and Suffolk, (1939), 20
Wake, T, 'East Anglian Mag' in Coordinating Regional Research, , Vol. 4, (1939), 127

Source: Historic England