Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Bowl barrow 18m diameter and 1m high, with no trace of ditch.

Monument Types

• BOWL BARROW (BOWL BARROW, Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 701 BC)

Full description

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TR 13325362. Bowl barrow 18.0m in diameter and 1.0m in height. No trace of ditch, now under young conifer. Discovered by J Bradshaw. Surveyed at 1:2500. (1)

From the National Heritage for England List:

The monument includes a bowl barrow situated on the southern side of a clay-capped, chalk hill forming part of the Kent Downs. The barrow has a roughly circular mound 13.5m in diameter and 0.75m high, surrounded by a ditch from which material used to construct the barrow was excavated. The ditch has become infilled over the years but survives as a buried feature c.2m wide.

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 some disturbance by previous ploughing, animal burrowing and forestry operations, the bowl barrow in the southern portion of Iffin Wood survives comparatively well and contains archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the monument and the landscape in which it was constructed. (4)

<1> J Bradshaw 8 Forest Houses Challock (OS Card Reference). SKE44798.

<2> F1 CFW 17.11.69 (OS Card Reference). SKE42604.

<3> Field report for monument TR 15 SW 20 - November, 1969 (Bibliographic reference). SKE5509.

<4> English Heritage, Register of Scheduled Monuments (Scheduling record). SKE16191.

Sources and further reading