Exploring Kent's Past

It should not be assumed that this site is publicly accessible and it may be on private property. Do not trespass.

Monument details

Summary

Barrow cemetery dating from around the Early Bronze Age including the buried and earthwork remains of seven barrows, located within a wider funerary landscape.

Monument Types

• BARROW CEMETERY (Early Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 1501 BC)
• ROUND BARROW (Early Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 1501 BC)
• DITCH (Middle Bronze Age - 1600 BC to 1001 BC)
• ENCLOSURE (Early Iron Age to Roman - 800 BC? to 409 AD?)
• PIT (Early Iron Age to Roman - 800 BC? to 409 AD?)

Associated Finds

• WORKED FLINT (Later Prehistoric - 4000 BC to 42 AD)
• ANIMAL REMAINS (Early Bronze Age to Late Iron Age - 2350 BC? to 42 AD?)
• ASSEMBLAGE (Early Bronze Age to Roman - 2350 BC to 409 AD)
• HUMAN REMAINS (Bronze Age - 2350 BC? to 701 BC?)
• PLANT REMAINS (Early Bronze Age to Late Iron Age - 2350 BC? to 42 AD?)

Full description

If you do not understand anything on this page please contact us.

Summary
Barrow cemetery dating from around the Early Bronze Age including the buried and earthwork remains of seven barrows, located within a wider funerary landscape.

From the National Heritage List for England:
Reasons for Designation
The barrow cemetery to the south-west of Barrowhill, Lympne, Kent is scheduled for the following principal reasons:

* Survival: as a group of barrows with above-ground and buried remains, this site survives well and compares favourably with other designated examples;

* Documentation: the understanding of the barrow group has been enhanced by the recent archaeological investigations;

* Diversity: the group of barrows are of various sizes and include a double-ditched barrow, representing a range of approaches to Bronze Age funerary ritual;

* Potential: the stratified archaeological deposits retain considerable potential to provide invaluable evidence about the construction of the barrows, burial practices and social organisation at this time. There is also potential that land between the barrows will provide additional information about related funerary practices, and later activity within this site;

* Group value: as part of a wider funerary landscape, it has strong group value with the nearby designated assets including the nearby bell barrow, also known as barrow 44 (NHLE 1475133).

History
Barrows, the most numerous of the various prehistoric funerary monuments, date from the Middle Neolithic to the Middle Bronze Age. Bowl barrows begin to appear from before 3000 BC but the majority belong to the period 2400-1500 BC. They were constructed as earthen or rubble mounds, sometimes ditched, which covered single or multiple burials, and exhibit regional variations in form and a diversity of burial practices. They occur either in isolation or grouped as cemeteries, and often acted as a focus for burials in later periods. Most round barrows from this period are bowl barrows. Bell, disc and pond barrows are considerably rarer.

Groups of round barrows or barrow cemeteries comprise closely-spaced groups of up to 30 round barrows. Most cemeteries developed over a considerable period, often many centuries, and in some cases acted as a focus for burials as late as the early medieval period. Round barrow cemeteries occur across most of lowland Britain, with a marked concentration in Wessex and in some cases are clustered around other important contemporary monuments.

The barrow cemetery located to the south-west of Barrowhill is spread over an area of high ground located to the south of the Kent Downs. It is most likely the origins of the barrows date to around the Early Bronze Age. They lie within arable fields and to the south of the course of the East Stour River. The group is located within a wider funerary landscape with the remains of other barrows located further east. Recent archaeological investigations of the wider landscape in this area have identified the buried remains of cremation pits in the vicinity of the barrows, one of which has been dated to the Late Bronze Age. Such finds indicate that later funerary activity in this area moved towards cremation burials in close proximity to the barrows, and possibly within the barrows themselves (as identified in barrow 130). In the surrounding landscape, buried remains have also been identified of later non-funerary prehistoric use, including ditches considered to be elements of a Middle Bronze Age field system to the south-east of the barrow group. There is also evidence of later settlement remains in the wider landscape, such as a series of rectilinear and curvilinear ditched enclosures and pits to the north of the barrow group, with a main expansion phase dating to Late Iron Age.

All of the barrows have been documented in recent archaeological investigations as (from north to south) barrows 131, 58, 113, 135, 114, 115 and 130. Four of the barrows have been identified through aerial photography including recent Google Earth imaging (2013; 58, 113, 114 and 115). Geophysical survey (2017) has provided further information about the remains and identified evidence for three additional barrows in this location (130, 131 and 135). Five barrows were further investigated through trial trench evaluation (114, 115, 130, 131 and 135). The land between the barrows has also been covered by the recent geophysical surveys and trial trenching which has shown evidence of ditches and pits in the land between the central group of barrows; one of the ditches has been dated through pottery sherds to the Late Iron Age or Early Roman period.

Details
Barrow cemetery dating from around the Early Bronze Age including the buried and earthwork remains of seven barrows, located within a wider funerary landscape.

PRINCIPAL ELEMENTS: a group of seven circular barrows surviving as a combination of buried ring ditches and earthen mounds, located on and around the summit of a low hill to the west of the settlement of Barrowhill.

DESCRIPTION: most of this group of barrows are located near to the summit and on the south-west side of the low hill adjacent to Barrowhill, with a further mound located on the hill’s north side. All the barrows are represented by ring ditches ranging between 16 to 60m, with three barrows (58, 113 and 130) retaining evidence of mounds.

Barrow 131, centred at TR1015137246, is located at the north side of the hill. It has a ring ditch approximately 18m in diameter. Trial trenching has shown that the ring ditch was 3.11m wide and 0.91m deep on the northern side. There was no evidence of mound material between the two excavated sides of the ditch. Finds from the trench include worked flint and a sherd of Early to Middle Iron Age pottery.

Near the summit of the hill are a group of four barrows, (north to south), 58, 113,135 and 114. Barrow 58, centred on TR1024237029, has a ring ditch approximately 60m in diameter and a low, spread mound approximately 1.5m high. Barrow 113, centred on TR1023936928, has a ring ditch approximately 40m diameter and a mound approximately 1m high. Geophysical survey evidence has also led to the tentative identification of curving ditches or gullies inside the outer ring ditch. Barrow 135, centred at TR1035236901, has a single, slightly irregular ring ditch approximately 30m in diameter. Trial trenching has shown that the sections of the ditch range from 2.5 to 3.33m in width and 0.75 to 1m in depth. No evidence has been found for an internal mound. Finds include flint flakes, a sherd of Iron Age or Roman pottery, and another sherd of early prehistoric pottery. Barrow 114, centred at TR1021436837, has a double ring ditch. The outer ring is approximately 41m in diameter, with the excavated sections of ditch ranging from 1.9m-2.02m wide. The inner ditch is approximately 27m in diameter and around 1.1m wide. Finds associated with this barrow include limestone fragments and flint flakes, charcoal, hazelnut fragments, ten sherds of Late Iron Age or Early Roman pottery and a large deposit of cockleshells. Within the land in between barrows 53, 113 and 135 geophysical survey has shown evidence of probable archaeological activity in the form of a rectilinear enclosure system and pits; most of this area has not been subject to excavation, apart from a ditch in the south-east corner of this group of rectilinear features, dated through trial trenching to the Late Iron Age or Early Roman period (located at the west end of Trench 380, Oxford Archaeology, 2018). Fragments of other buried features identified through recent archaeological investigations cross into the area of the barrow group.

Further south-west are two further barrows. Barrow 115, centred at TR1024936768 has a single ring ditch approximately 16m in diameter, between 1.1 to 1.32m wide and 0.5m deep. The results of trial trenching included three pieces of fired clay, worked flint and unworked stone (possibly from a quern) and a sherd of early prehistoric pottery. Barrow 130, centred at TR1021436691, has a single ring ditch approximately 12m in diameter, 2.8m wide and 0.64m deep with a mound surviving to a depth of approximately 0.15m. Probable cremation pits were identified within the mound. The artefacts from trial trenching included a small amount of Middle Bronze Age pottery and fragments of cremated bone. A ditch was also identified to the south of the mound material which has been interpreted as a Middle Bronze Age feature.

EXTENT OF SCHEDULING: the monument has three scheduled areas. The north scheduled area consists of barrow 131. The northern boundary of the central scheduled area extends around barrows 113 and 53, the north-east edge incorporates the rectilinear enclosure system between barrows 53 and 135, down to barrow 114 and back up to barrow 113. The southern scheduled area runs around barrow 115 and down to barrow 130. The scheduled areas include a 2m buffer around these archaeological features where they are adjacent to the schedule boundary, for the support and maintenance of the monument.

EXCLUSIONS: all modern fences and fence posts are excluded from the scheduling but the ground beneath them is included.(1)

<1> Historic England, National Heritage List for England (Index). SKE29372.

Sources and further reading