Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow located on an isolated knoll known as Hut
Hill on Knettishall Heath. The barrow is visible as an earthen mound, which
stands to a height of about 0.5m and covers a roughly circular area with a
maximum diameter of 32m. Encircling the mound is a ditch, from which the earth
was quarried during the construction of the barrow; this has become mainly
infilled, but is marked by a very slight hollow in the ground surface,
approximately 4m wide and 0.3m deep, on the north and east sides.

The low wooden fence surrounding the barrow is excluded from the scheduling,
although the ground beneath it 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.

The bowl barrow on Hut Hill is a well preserved example and will retain
archaeological information concerning its construction and the manner and
duration of its use. Evidence for the local environment prior to and during
that time will be preserved in the upstanding earthwork, in soils buried
beneath the mound and in the fill of the partly buried ditch. The proximity of
the barrow to a number of other barrows in this part of the Breckland region,
including the bowl barrow in Brickkiln Covert approximately 720m to the east,
give it additional interest. Together these barrows give some evidence of the
character, development and density of the prehistoric population in this area.

Source: Historic England