Details

This monument includes a bowl barrow situated on an prominent upland ridge
known as Berry Down overlooking the Sterridge Valley. It forms part of a round
barrow cemetery, of which seven barrows survive in all. The other barrows
within this cemetery are the subject of separate schedulings.
The barrow survives as a circular mound 37.7m in diameter and 1.8m high. The
surrounding quarry ditch from which material to construct the mound was
derived is preserved as a buried feature approximately 3m wide.

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

Round barrow cemeteries date to the Bronze Age (c.2000-700 BC). They comprise
closely-spaced groups of up to 30 round barrows - rubble or earthen mounds
covering single or multiple burials. Most cemeteries developed over a
considerable period of time, often many centuries, and in some cases acted as
a focus for burials as late as the early medieval period. They exhibit
considerable diversity of burial rite, plan and form, frequently including
several different types of round barrow, occasionally associated with earlier
long barrows. Where large scale investigation has been undertaken around them,
contemporary or later "flat" burials between the barrow mounds have often been
revealed. Round barrow cemeteries occur across most of lowland Britain, with a
marked concentration in Wessex. In some cases, they are clustered around other
important contemporary monuments such as henges. Often occupying prominent
locations, they are a major historic element in the modern landscape, whilst
their diversity and their longevity as a monument type provide important
information on the variety of beliefs and social organisation amongst early
prehistoric communities. They are particularly representative of their period
and a substantial proportion of surviving or partly-surviving examples are
considered worthy of protection.

Despite reduction in its height through cultivation, the bowl barrow 420m east
of Smythen Cross, forming part of a round barrow cemetery on Berry Down
survives well and contains archaeological and environmental information
relating to the monument and its surrounding landscape.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
Devon County Sites and Monuments Register, SS54SE3, (1981)

Source: Historic England