Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow standing on a gentle south east facing
slope within 20m of the parish boundary between Hockwold cum Wilton and
Methwold, towards the western side of the Breckland region and the fen edge.

The barrow is visible as an earthen mound encircled by a ditch and has an
overall diameter of c.41m. The mound stands to a height of c.0.8m and covers a
circular area c.29m in diameter. The surrounding ditch, from which earth was
quarried during construction of the barrow, has become largely infilled but
survives as a buried feature, marked by a slight depression c.6m wide and
c.0.2m deep in the ground surface.

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 in Lynnroad Covert survives well and there is no evidence that
it has suffered any damage other than the limited disturbance caused by the
planting of several trees upon it. The mound and deposits beneath it and in
the fill of the ditch will retain archaeological information relating to the
construction of the barrow and the manner and duration of its use, as well as
evidence for the local environment at that time, and evidence for earlier land
use is also likely to be preserved in soils buried beneath the mound. The
monument has additional interest as one of a dispersed group of barrows
located between 4km and 6km WNW of the prehistoric flint mines of Grimes
Graves. As a group and in this context the barrows provide evidence for the
study of the general character and development of prehistoric settlement in
the area. The proximity of the barrow to the parish boundary is also of
interest, because prehistoric earthworks of this type were sometimes used as
markers in the defining of such boundaries.

Source: Historic England