Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow situated on a high upland ridge
overlooking the valley of a tributary to Dury Water and forming part of a
round barrow cemetery. Seven other barrows which make up the cemetery lie to
the west, north west, north, north east and south and are the subject of
separate schedulings.
The monument includes a circular mound which measures 23m in diameter and
up to 0.5m high. It is surrounded by an approximately 3m wide quarry ditch
from which material to construct the mound was derived. This is now preserved
as a buried feature. The mound has been cut on its south eastern quadrant by
what may be an old excavation trench which is up to 0.2m deep. The general
profile is uneven in character.

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 and partial excavation,
the bowl barrow 540m south east of Sandymoor Cross survives comparatively well
and will contain both archaeological and environmental information relating to
the monument and its surrounding landscape.
Bowl barrows are the most numerous form of round barrow, with over 10,000
examples recorded nationally, they were constructed as earthen or rubble
mounds each covering single or multiple burials.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
Devon County Sites and Monuments Register, SX39NE4, (1989)

Source: Historic England