Details

The monument includes two plough-reduced Bronze Age bowl barrows situated
north west of Ropewalk Farm, St Agnes. The barrows occupy high ground on a
ridge of land between two streams which flow out to the sea on the north
Cornish coast about 1.5km to the north west. The two barrows represent the
best visible and intact survivors of a linear round barrow cemetery, which
originally comprised at least eight barrows stretched along the ridge, one of
which produced an urn containing a cremation. The two barrows lie close
together separated by a hedge-bank. The southernmost barrow of the pair is
enclosed on three sides by a hedge-bank. It survives as a low mound 0.3m high
and 18m across. The northernmost barrow lies 40m north east of its neighbour
and also survives as a low mound 0.5m high and 19m across.
Excluded from the scheduling is all electric and other fencing, fence posts,
hedgebanks, and walling, although the ground beneath these features is
included.

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 having been reduced by cultivation, the bowl barrows north west of
Ropewalk Farm survive as recognisable mounds and will contain archaeological
and environmental evidence relating to the monument and landscape in which it
was built. The barrows were originally part of a linear round barrow cemetery.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Warner, R, 'Cornish Archaeology' in St Agnes Parish, , Vol. 1, (1962), 113
Warner, R, 'Cornish Archaeology' in Parish of St Agnes, , Vol. 1, (1962), 113
Other
Thomas, R, Letter to the West Briton, (1851)

Source: Historic England