Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow situated on Honey Hill, 250m south of
Honey Farm. It is situated on a gravel island along the Fen edge; a location
that with its wetter and drier grounds attracted ritual and settlement
activity from the Neolithic onwards. It is part of a spread of barrow clusters
along the eastern side of Chatteris gravel island. About 110m to the south
west and 400m to the south east are two more round barrows, which are subject
to separate schedulings.

The mound of the barrow in this scheduling has been partly spread by modern
ploughing, and now stands 1m high, covering an area of approximately 40m in
diameter. The original mound is likely to have measured about 20m in diameter,
as a survey conducted in 1978 suggests. The encircling ditch from which earth
was dug in the construction of the mound, has become infilled over the years,
but will survive as a buried feature underneath the spread remains of the
mound. It is thought to measure up to 5m wide by comparison with examples
excavated elsewhere in the area.

In 1978 undated skeletons lying in east-west parallel rows were ploughed out
of the mound. There are thought to be secondary burials of the Romano-British
period, associated with a settlement in the vicinity. The available evidence
indicates that the barrow lies within a pattern of Romano-British paddocks, of
which a segment will survive beneath the spread of the mound.

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 250m south of Honey Farm is one of the few surviving elements
of a formerly extensive round barrow cemetery, now largely destroyed by
ploughing. It is better preserved than most barrows in the area as it has only
been under plough since 1972. It appears to be unexcavated and will contain a
wealth of archaeological evidence relating to activity on the site, including
the manner and date of its construction, its use and the appearance of the
landscape in which it was set. The monument has additional value as part of an
important archaeological landscape, which preserves prehistoric and Romano-
British settlement remains.

Source: Historic England