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Summary

The bowl barrow forms part of a dispersed group which included at least 10 similar barrows, 7 of which still survive. The cemetery is aligned broadly east-west over a distance of c.1.5km.

Monument Type(s):

• BOWL BARROW (Bronze Age - 2500 BC to 701 BC)
• MOUND (Unknown date)

Associated Events:

• Fenland Survey Project, 1976-1989
• Aerial Investigation Mapping Project, East Cambridgeshire (Ref: P7767)
• Geophysical survey at Hadham Farm, Kennet, Newmarket in 2023

Protected Status:

• Scheduled Monument 1015245: Hilly Plantation bowl barrow, part of the Chippenham barrow cemetery, 500m south west of Waterhall Farm

Full description

<1> Tumulus (LB).

<4> <2> Shown on Fox's BA map as a round barrow under the heading" unexamined or destroyed without record of their contents having been preserved". Date unknown but situation suggests BA.

<5> Nothing remains of this barrow but a slight ridge along the SW side of Hilly Plantation. Published 1:2500 revised.

<6> Earthwork barrow 25.5m diameter; some flints on the east side which was ploughed; the west side is disturbed. No ditch is visible. Fenland Survey RN 57, CHI S2. Survives.

<7> The monument includes a Bronze Age bowl barrow located 500m to the north west of Waterhall Farm, within a small copse situated in the angle of the A11/A14 junction.
The barrow stands on the broad ridge of the low chalk escarpment. To the south a slight gradient descends in the direction of Newmarket, and to the north the ground gradually falls towards Chippenham and the fen edge around Worlington and Isleham. The barrow mound is roughly circular in plan and domed in profile, measuring c.25m in diameter and 1.4m in height. It was first noted in C Fox's 'Archaeology of the Cambridge Region' (1923), at which time it was recorded as being unexamined. There is no evidence of archaeological excavation since this time, and the mound is therefore assumed to remain substantially undisturbed.
The barrow forms part of a dispersed group or cemetery which included at least ten similar barrows, seven of which still survive (and are scheduled separately). The cemetery is aligned broadly east-west, extending over a distance of c.1,5km to the south of Chippenham Park. The Hilly Plantation barrow lies towards the western side of the alignment, some 320m from its nearest neighbour to the east in The Rookery Plantation (SM27178), and separated by the line of the A11 from a group of barrows clustered on the north side of the road junction (some of which were excavated in 1973 prior to the construction of the dual carriageways - those which survive comprise SM27180).
This alignment, together with further outlying barrows near Newmarket and Barton Mills, broadly correlates with the course of the Roman road between Great Chesterford and Thetford. The barrows are indicative of a far earlier prehistoric trackway following the Icknield Way across the edge of the chalk escarpment.

9. A Bronze Age barrow is visible on historic aerial photographs and remote sensing data as earthworks and was mapped as part of the East Cambridgeshire Aerial Investigation and Mapping project (ECB6189). Located in Hilly Plantation and centred at TL 67547 66891, a roughly circular mound is about 32 metres in diameter. Centred some 37 metres to the SW is a second smaller mound about 21.9 metres in diameter. No record of a second barrow has been made at this location, so the function and nature of this feature remains uncertain. Given the proximity to the (scheduled) barrow, it may be a further funerary site.

10. Geophysical survey carried out in 2023 did not identify any remains of the barrow at the scheduled location.

<1> 1958, OS 6 inch map (Map). SCB9007.

<2> Fox, C., 1923, The Archaeology of the Cambridge Region, 30 (map) (Bibliographic reference). SCB1232.

<3> Leaf, C.S., 1940, Further Excavations in Bronze Age Barrows at Chippenham, Cambs. PCAS 39: 29-68, p. 29 (Article in serial). SCB10158.

<4> BRS, 1968, OS field notes (Unpublished document). SCB16672.

<5> Phillips, A S, 1968, OS field notes (Unpublished document). SCB16673.

<6> Hall, D.N., 1996, The Fenland Project, Number 10: Cambridgeshire Survey, The Isle of Ely and Wisbech, CHI S2 (Bibliographic reference). SCB16086.

<7> English Heritage, 1997, Hilly Plantation bowl barrow, part of the Chippenham barrow cemetery, 500m south west of Waterhall Farm, SAM 27179 (Scheduling record). SCB16791.

<8> Phillips, A. S., Field Investigator Comments, 27/5/68 (Verbal communication). SCB61299.

<9> East Cambridgeshire AIM, 2020, Next Perspectives APGB Digital Terrain Model dated 24-JAN-2019, TL6766 (Geospatial data). SCB68989.

<10> Cockcroft, T., 2023, Geophysical survey report Hadham Farm, Kennet, Newmarket (Unpublished report). SCB88757.

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