Details

This monument includes a bowl barrow 80m south west of Hampson Cottage, Bow.
It is located on a ridge between the valleys of the River Yeo to the south and
the Venn Lake to the north. It is one of a group of ritual and funerary
monuments centred around the village of Bow. The area is also associated with
the placename `Nymett' which is thought to have sacred Celtic significance.
The barrow survives as a low circular mound which measures 18m in diameter
and is 0.4m high. The ditch, from which material to construct the mound was
quarried, surrounds the mound and is preserved as a buried feature which is
clearly visible on aerial photographs.
Many of the other funerary and ritual monuments in the area are the subject of
separate schedulings.

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.

Despite plough damage, the bowl barrow 80m south west of Hampson Cottage
survives comparatively well and contains archaeological and environmental
information relating to the mound and its surrounding landscape. This mound
forms part of a cluster of funerary and ritual monuments situated close to the
present day village of Bow.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Griffith, F M, 'Prehistoric Society Proceedings' in Some Newly Discovered Ritual Monuments in Mid Devon, , Vol. 51, (1985), 314
Other
Devon County Sites and Monuments Register, SX70SW127, (1991)
MPP fieldwork by H. Gerrard, (1996)

Source: Historic England