Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Bronze Age bowl barrow. Geophysical survey in Sping 2019 was inconclusive.

Monument Types

• BOWL BARROW (BOWL BARROW, Late Neolithic to Late Bronze Age - 3000 BC? to 701 BC?)

Full description

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During the summer of 1895 the Earl of Darnley allowed the two mounds on the Cobham estate to be examined. A large tree growing on the summit of that called "The Mount" by the game-keepers house, allowed only of trenching into the side. Two fragments of coarse pre-Roman pottery and a few scraps of charcoal were found on the natural soil at the base of the mound near the centre. (1) TQ 67376934 This mound is a bowl barrow with average diameter 22.0m, height 1.1m and no trace of ditch. It is situated at the highest point of a ridge at a height of approx. 350ft. O.D. The finds mentioned in authy.1 are not in the possession of Lord Darnley. Antiquity Model Survey made. (2) Published 25" survey (1964), checked and correct. (3)


From the National Heritage List for England:
The monument includes a bowl barrow which comprises an earthen mound encircled by a quarry ditch. The mound of the barrow measures 22m in diameter and stands to a height of 1.8m above the ground level. The surrounding ditch
is no longer visible, having been infilled by soil eroded from the mound. This barrow mound was partially excavated in 1895, at which time fragments of prehistoric pottery and charcoal were found, but the primary burial was not
disturbed because a tree growing on the mound restricted digging activities. The diameter of the mound and ditch together is 26m.

ASSESSMENT OF IMPORTANCE
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 the limited damage caused to the Ashenbank Wood monument by partial excavation in 1895, the barrow is considered to retain considerable potential because the majority of the mound, the underlying ground surface, the burials placed on or below the ground surface and the surrounding ditch all survive. These locations hold evidence of the nature and duration of the use of the barrow and of the environment in which it was constructed. The barrow is an outlier to the main concentration of such monuments in Kent and so demonstrates the differing degree of use of burial mounds across the region for the disposal and commemoration of the dead in the Bronze Age. (6)

Cobham Resource Cons. Keith Funnell Ass., Gravesham BC & Union Railways Ltd, 1996, Ashenbak Wood and Cobham Park Study Stage 3 Report (Unpublished document). SKE6680.

Cobham Resource Cons. Keith Funnell Ass., Gravesham BC & Union Railways Ltd, 1996, Ashenbak Wood and Cobham Park Study Stage 3 Report (Unpublished document). SKe6680.

<1> Arch. Cant. Vol.22, 1897, p.liii (OS Card Reference). SKE37106.

<2> F1 CFW 08-JUL-59 (OS Card Reference). SKE42483.

<3> F2 FGA 20-OCT-64 (OS Card Reference). SKE43330.

<4> Field report for monument TQ 66 NE 17 - July, 1959 (Bibliographic reference). SKE3506.

<5> Field report for monument TQ 66 NE 17 - October, 1964 (Bibliographic reference). SKE3507.

<6> English Heritage, Register of Scheduled Monuments (Scheduling record). SKE16191.

Sources and further reading