Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow located on sloping ground against the
northern edge of the Cromer Ridge, below the prominent glacial feature of
Muckleburgh Hill and overlooking the coast. The barrow is visible as an
earthen mound standing to a height of c.1.5m and covering a circular area
c.22m 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, and this
will survive as a buried feature, although it has become infilled and can no
longer be traced on the ground surface. The estimated overall diameter of the
barrow is therefore 28m.

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 on the north side of Muckleburgh Hill survives well and is not
known to have undergone any disturbance other than the limited amount caused
by the digging of three small slit trenches into the mound. It 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 barrow is
one of several located between 2km and 6km to the east of a large dispersed
barrow cemetery on and around Salthouse Heath, and has additional interest in
the context of this larger group. The barrows of the cemetery and the
associated group include a variety of forms and types and the evidence from
several, which have been the subject of part investigation, shows that they
are of varying date. As a group, they therefore have a wider significance for
the study of the distribution, character and development of the prehistoric
population of the area.

Source: Historic England