Ancient Monuments

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Bowl barrow 70m south of church of St Michael

A Scheduled Monument in Laxton and Moorhouse, Nottinghamshire

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Coordinates

Latitude: 53.1952 / 53°11'42"N

Longitude: -0.9204 / 0°55'13"W

OS Eastings: 472221.95071

OS Northings: 366999.005786

OS Grid: SK722669

Mapcode National: GBR BHM.N3W

Mapcode Global: WHFGV.TYWD

Entry Name: Bowl barrow 70m south of church of St Michael

Scheduled Date: 13 April 1955

Last Amended: 23 February 1998

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1017740

English Heritage Legacy ID: 29911

County: Nottinghamshire

Civil Parish: Laxton and Moorhouse

Built-Up Area: Laxton

Traditional County: Nottinghamshire

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): Nottinghamshire

Church of England Parish: Laxton

Church of England Diocese: Southwell and Nottingham

Details

The monument includes the earthwork and below ground remains of a bowl barrow
situated 70m south of the church of St Michael. The mound is sub-circular in
shape, approximately 25m wide and stands to a height of 1m. A large oak tree
approximately 1.3m in diameter stands in its centre. Traces of a ditch are
visible to the north of the mound and although the surface evidence for this
is slight the height and type of vegetation in this area suggests a ditch
survives beneath the surface. The ditch is evident from the surface as a
slight depression 0.3m deep and approximately 2m wide. It is likely that
gradual slumping of the mound down slope has obscured the ditch to the south.
No recorded excavation of the barrow has been carried out so it cannot be
precisely dated but its position and form are analogous with other examples
known to be of Bronze Age date.

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 70m south of the church of St Michael is a rare example of
this type of monument in Nottinghamshire. The mound, ditch and buried land
surface will retain important archaeological and environmental evidence
pertaining to the use of the monument and the prehistoric environment in which
it stood.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Oswald, A, 'Transactions of the Thoroton Society' in Some Unrecorded Earthworks In Nottinghamshire, , Vol. 43, (1939), 10-11

Source: Historic England

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