Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Barrow (excavated), plus alleged site of two further barrows in Millpond Wood

Monument Types

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

Associated Finds

• FLAKE (Mesolithic - 10000 BC to 4001 BC)

Full description

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[TQ 53815662] Tumulus [NR] (Mesolithic flints found). (1) [TQ 53905665] (2) Tumulus excavated by Lewis Abbott who found traces of cremation and "thousands" of burnt flints, including pygmies, which are in the British and Canterbury Museums. The tumulus was 80-90ft in diameter, 5.5ft high, and planted with firs. Lewis Abbott [p. 143] mentions "two other barrows in the neighbourhood not yet explored." (2-5) The published feature is a flat-topped sub-circular mound measuring some 33.0m in diameter E-W, 28.0m in diameter N-S and 1.5m in height on a prominent E-W sandy ridge. It has no trace of a ditch. This is presumably the mound excavated by Lewis Abbott but the other two "in the neighbourhood" were not traced. Points and microliths of Horsham type still occur in the sandy surface of the mound and similar implements with cores and flakes were found in recent years when trees were grubbed up to make gardens for the council houses on the S. side of the site: these latter are now in Sevenoaks Public Library and Museum. Published 1/1250 survey correct. (6) Ninety-eight Mesolithic artefacts from Wilderness Barrow opened by W J L Abbot are in the British Museum; Tunbridge Wells Museum holds another 125 artefacts according to R M Jacobi. (7) Additional bibliography. (8)

From the National Heritage List for England:
The monument includes a bowl barrow situated on the crest of a prominent sandy ridge. The barrow has an oval mound 33m east-west by 28m north-south and is 1.8m high. Surrounding this is a ditch from which material was quarried during the construction of the monument. Although no longer visible at ground level, having become infilled over the years, the ditch survives as a buried feature c.3m wide. The barrow was partially excavated in the 1890s when traces of a cremation burial were discovered beneath the mound. Hundreds of pieces of worked flint and tools dating to the Mesolithic period were also discovered in the make-up of the mound and surrounding area, showing that the barrow was constructed on a much earlier flint-working site. Excluded from the scheduling are all fences and fence posts although the ground beneath them is included.

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 partial excavation, the bowl barrow in Millpond Wood survives comparatively well and contains archaeological remains and environmental evidence realting to the monument and the landscape in which it was constructed. (10)

<1> OS 25" 1936 (OS Card Reference). SKE48262.

<2> Maidstone Mus 6 (LRA Grove Curator 25.5.50) (OS Card Reference). SKE46269.

<3> JR Anthrop 1 25 1895-6 130-45 (WL Lewis Abbott) (OS Card Reference). SKE45031.

<4> Arch of Kent 1930 261 38 (RF Jessup) (OS Card Reference). SKE36911.

<5> Arch Cant 39 1927 156 (small scale plan) (OS Card Reference). SKE35066.

<6> F1 CFW 08.08.64 (OS Card Reference). SKE42477.

<7> CBA Res Rep 20 1977 Gaz of Me and Upper Pa sites in Eng and Wales 157 (JJ Wymer) (OS Card Reference). SKE38856.

<8> BAR 75 2 1980 463 The Flint Arrowheads of the British Isles (HS Green) (OS Card Reference). SKE37560.

<9> Field report for monument TQ 55 NW 13 - August, 1964 (Bibliographic reference). SKE2804.

<10> English Heritage County List of Scheduled Monuments - Kent March 1992 (18) (OS Card Reference). SKE41615.

Sources and further reading