Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Round barrow

Monument Types

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

Full description

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`Pits and tumuli' in Westwood, Lyminge. For the Pits see TR 14 SW 19) (1)

(TR 136430) Group of six round barrows in West Wood. Scheduled. (2)

TR 140433. 287/f. Diameter 20yds., height 3ft. (a). (See illust.) (3)

From the National Heritage List for England:

Details:

This monument lies at the north-eastern edge of a group of similar examples in West Wood. It includes a bowl barrow which comprises an earthen mound and an encircling ditch. The mound survives to a height of 1m at most, although because the ground slopes slightly up to the west the height diminishes in this direction. It measures 17m in diameter. The ditch has been completely infilled by erosion of soil from the mound, but would originally have been dug to provide the soil and flint nodules for the construction of the mound. The mound and the ditch together have a diameter of 21m

Reasons for Designation:

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. Their ubiquity and their tendency to occupy prominent locations makes them 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 organisation amongst early prehistoric communities. They are particularly representative of their period and a substantial proportion of surviving examples are considered worthy of protection.

<1> Arch J 40 1883 292 (F C J Spurrell) (OS Card Reference). SKE36629.

<2> DOE (IAM) AMs Eng 2 1978 109 (OS Card Reference). SKE40685.

<3> AM 7 D Sherlock 1972 (OS Card Reference). SKE33004.

Sources and further reading