Details

The monument includes a Bronze Age bowl barrow located in a commanding
position on the highest point of the southern spur of Hartridge, a flat-topped
ridge which lies about 1.5km west of the valley of the River Otter.
The barrow mound has been partly spread by cultivation in antiquity but it
retains a height of about 0.9m and has a diameter of about 14m. Surrounding
the barrow mound is evidence for the presence of a ditch, most noticeable
on the western side, from which material had been quarried for the
construction of the barrow. The ditch, which has been infilled over the years,
has an average width of about 3.5m and a depth, in places, of about 0.1m,
although it will also survive as a buried feature. The monument is marked as a
tumulus on the Ordnance Survey plan of 1906.

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 spread by cultivation, the barrow on Hartridge, 360m east
of Shelves Farm retains a visible mound and a partly visible associated
quarry ditch. It occupies a prominent position in the landscape in an area
where few barrows are otherwise recorded. The monument will contain
archaeological information about the barrow and the landscape in which it was
constructed.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, L V, 'Proc Devon Arch Soc' in The Barrows of North Devon, , Vol. 28, (1970), 123

Source: Historic England