Details

The monument includes a prehistoric bowl barrow, known as Cloven Barrow,
situated on low-lying ground formerly part of the flood plain of the River
Thames, now around 1km to the south. The barrow has a circular mound
approximately 14m in diameter and 2.5m high, surrounded by a ditch from which
material used to construct the barrow was excavated. The ditch has become
infilled over the years, and will survive as a buried feature up to 2m wide.
The monument has been partly disturbed by modern gardening activities, and by
the construction of a greenhouse on its western side.
Cloven Barrow (Old English Clofenan Beorh, or the barrow with a cleft) was
mentioned in an Anglo-Saxon document, known as the Sunbury Charter, which has
been dated to around AD 962.
A number of features are excluded from the scheduling; these are the modern
garden boundary, steps, paving, garden furniture and ornaments, greenhouse and
shed, although the ground beneath all 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 some subsequent disturbance, Cloven Barrow survives well and provides
a good, rare example of a bowl barrow constructed on low-lying ground. It is
also particularly well documented, with its mention in a land grant providing
evidence for the recognition of the monument in the early medieval period.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Tapp, W H, Draper, F W M, 'Transactions of the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society' in The Saxon Charter of Sunbury on Thames, , Vol. 10, (1951), 302-306

Source: Historic England