Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Possible Bronze Age Bowl Barrow 30m N of Elmley Church, Elmley Island, Isle of Sheppey. A mound was identified in 1963 by an Ordnance Survey fieldworker, described as being a ditchless mound 13m in diameter and 0.6m high, located just below the highest part of Elmley Island and to the west of Kings Hill Farm.The mound is first mapped as an oval mound on the 1908 1:2500 Ordnance Survey map. Aerial photographic evidence demonstrates that it was visible in May 1946 with another apparent circular mound to the south-west. There is no trace of the latter on aerial photography of 1951 and the former appears reduced to a cropmark or possible low mound. From 1963 onwards there is no trace of the possible barrow.

Monument Types

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

Full description

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TQ 93306801: Just below the highest part of Elmley Island, in a pasture field some 30.0 m. to the N. of the site of Elmley Church, there is a ditchless mound averaging 13.0m. in diameter and 0.6m. in height. It is too small for a windmill mound, and is possibly a bowl barrow. 25" published survey revised. (1)

A mound was identified in 1963 by an Ordnance Survey fieldworker, described as being a ditchless mound 13m in diameter and 0.6m high, located just below the highest part of Elmley Island, to the west of Kings Hill Farm and north-west of the site of Elmley Church.The mound is not shown on the 1st edition OS Map of 1869 and is first mapped as an oval mound on the 1908 1:2500 OS map. Aerial photographic evidence demonstrates that it was visible in May 1946 with another apparent circular mound to the south-west. There is no trace of the latter on aerial photography of 1951 and the former appears reduced to a cropmark or possible low mound. From 1963 onwards there is no trace of the possible barrow.The location of the former mound, on higher ground, and the proximity to an early church might substantiate the barrow theory as many are located prominently in the landscape and are foci for later ritual activity.The possible barrow mound is believed to have been ploughed out. If the barrow identification is correct then it is possible that remains of the ditch and central burial may survive as buried archaeological features.Bowl barrows range in date from the early Neolithic period onwards although the main period of construction appears to have been in the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age. The identification of the mound as a barrow remains unconfirmed and the potential for significant buried archaeological remains is not known. The site was assessed in 2005 but was not Scheduled. (2) site photographs (3,4).

<1> F1 CFW 26-AUG-63 (OS Card Reference). SKE42769.

<2> Field report for monument TQ 96 NW 17 - August, 1963 (Bibliographic reference). SKE4876.

<3> 1946, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX9603.

<4> 1946, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX9604.

Sources and further reading