Scheduled Monument: Lower Thorpe bowl barrow (1010435)

DESCRIPTION OF THE MONUMENT Lower Thorpe bowl barrow lies 200m to the east of Lower Thorpe Farm and 500m to the north east of Thorpe Mandeville village. This Bronze Age bowl barrow is located on the brow of a hill and can be seen standing as a prominent round mound which is one metre high in the centre and has an overall diameter of 25m. There are traces of a ditch about 2.5m wide on the western side. On the other sides the ditch has been levelled by ploughing but is visible on aerial photographs. It is recorded that in 1806 this field was called Windmill Ground, and it is possible that the barrow was reused as a windmill mound in more recent times. 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. The Lower Thorpe barrow survives well and is of above average size.

Record last edited

Sep 6 2023 9:39AM