Details

The monument includes the buried remains of a Bronze Age bowl barrow located
c.160m above sea level on a plateau between the source of the Nettleton Beck
to the north and the Otby Beck to the south. It is situated approximately 70m
north of a field boundary and is clearly visible as a cropmark from the air
representing a circular feature within an enclosing ditch 25m in diameter.
A second, similar monument identified from aerial photographs lies some 50m to
the west (SM 27898), with a third bowl barrow c.110m to the south west
(SM 27893). These monuments are the subjects of separate schedulings.
The monument is one of a number of Neolithic and Bronze Age burial mounds in
the area which are associated with the heads and valleys of the Nettleton and
Otby Becks and with High Street, approximately 300m to the east, which
originated as a prehistoric trackway.

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.

Although the bowl barrow west of Mount Pleasant has been degraded by ploughing
its buried remains will retain valuable archaeological information, including
funerary deposits, within the ditch and on and under the original ground
surface concerning the barrow's dating and construction. Environmental
evidence preserved in the same deposits will illustrate the nature of the
landscape in which the monument was set.
The monument's close proximity to two other bowl barrows and its association
with a number of other Bronze Age and Neolithic burial mounds above the
Nettleton and Otby Becks and along the route of the adjacent prehistoric
trackway is indicative of the ritual significance of this location. The
number and frequency of these monuments poses wider questions concerning
prehistoric settlement patterns and demography.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Bonnor, L D, Griffiths, D W, Skitter to Hatton 4050mm diameter pipeline, 1993, (1993), 31-41
Other
oblique monochrome photograph, Everson, P, 2921/36-7, (1976)

Source: Historic England