Scheduled Monument: BOWL BARROW ON ARPINGE RANGE (1009009)
Authority | |
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Date assigned | 26 October 1994 |
Date last amended |
Description
The monument includes a bowl barrow situated on a spur projecting from a ridge of the Kent Downs. The barrow has a large, west-east orientated, oval mound measuring 23m by 17.5m, surviving to a height of 2m. The mound is surrounded by a ditch from which material used to construct the barrow was excavated. This has become infilled over the years, but survives as a buried feature c.3m wide.
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 a small amount of disturbance caused by military training activity and poaching by cattle, the bowl barrow on Arpinge Range survives in good condition and will contain archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the monument and the landscape in which it was constructed.
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Location
Grid reference | Centred TR 1823 3851 (33m by 28m) |
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Map sheet | TR13NE |
County | KENT |
District | FOLKESTONE AND HYTHE, KENT |
Civil Parish | NEWINGTON, SHEPWAY, KENT |
Related Monuments/Buildings (1)
Record last edited
Oct 5 2011 2:27PM