Details

The monument includes the earthwork and buried remains of a Bronze Age bowl
barrow located 137m above sea level about 100m south west of Gally Hill Farm,
on the east side of Sixhills Lane, Ludford. The grassy mound is situated in an
arable field on the southern slope of the valley of the River Bain. The mound
is sub-circular, measuring c.35m by 30m and is thought to have been slightly
degraded by ploughing on the eastern side. It stands to a maximum height of
approximately 2.5m although a central transect running north west - south east
disrupts the barrow's profile. This transect was cut during archaeological
investigations in 1941. The encircling ditch from which material for the mound
would have been quarried is not now visible but is thought to survive beneath
the present ground surface. Fieldwalking in the area of the barrow in 1977 and
1992 produced a number of worked flints.
The monument's name is a corruption of gallows hill and it is thought that the
mound supported a gallows during the post-medieval period.

MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
It includes a 5 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 100m south west of Gally Hill Farm is a prominent monument in
the landscape, clearly visible from the adjacent highway. Although the
monument has been disturbed, the greater part of it remains intact and will
retain valuable archaeological deposits, including funerary remains, beneath
the mound and in the fills of the buried ditch. These will provide further
information relating to its period and construction and the mortuary practices
of its builders. Environmental evidence preserved in the same features will
illustrate the landscape in which the monument was set.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Williams, A, 'Antiquarians Journal' in Notice of Excavations in Ludford Magna, , Vol. 28, (1941), 27
Other
discussion with local archaeologist, Field, N, Gally Hill bowl barrow, excavations, (1995)
text, Coupland, F and Field N, Stenigot-Bully Hills Water Pipeline Archaeological Investigation, (1992)

Source: Historic England