Details

The monument includes the standing and buried remains of a bowl barrow,
situated in the valley of a tributary of the River Stiffkey, at the crossing
of the roads from Warham to Binham and from Stiffkey to Wighton. The stream
runs 80m to the east of the barrow which originally measured approximately 33m
in diameter. The southern half of the barrow is visible as a semi-circular
mound up to 2m in height and measuring 33m east-west by 21m north-south. The
northern half of the mound was levelled in 1933, in advance of a proposed road
widening, when remains of three skeletons, including those of a girl and a
dog, were found, and buried soil containing charcoal and burnt flints was
also observed. It is thought that the barrow is surrounded by a ditch which
was dug during the construction of the monument, and although this ditch has
become completely infilled and is no longer visible, it will survive as a
buried feature with an estimated width of 3m.
The posts of a fence across the northern edge of the surviving part of the
mound are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath them is
included.

MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.

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 southern half of the bowl barrow known as Fiddler's Hill survives well,
and although the northern part of the barrow mound has been levelled, the
remains of the surrounding ditch will be preserved below the ground surface on
that side as well as to the south. The monument will retain archaeological
information concerning the construction of the barrow and the manner and
duration of its use, and evidence for the local environment at and prior to
that time is likely to be preserved in deposits in the fill of the buried
ditch and in soils buried beneath the mound.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
North Norfolk: Warham: 1854,

Source: Historic England