Monument Type(s):

• BOWL BARROW? (Bronze Age - 2600 BC? to 700 BC?)
• MOTTE AND BAILEY? (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1540 AD)
• MOTTE? (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1540 AD)
• (Alternate Type) LEAD MINE (Early 18th century to Late 19th century - 1700 AD? to 1899 AD?)

Summary

Scheduled Monument: A well-preserved and prominently situated Bronze Age burial mound, which has also been interpreted as a Norman motte (earthwork castle) and is still marked as such on the OS map. It has been reinterpreted as a spoil heap from the extensive metal mining carried out in this area during the 18th/19th centuries.

Related records: None recorded

Associated Finds: None recorded

Associated Events

• ESA1774 - 1926 field observation by English Heritage
• ESA1775 - 1958 field observation by the Ordnance Survey
• ESA1776 - 1973 field observation by the Ordnance Survey
• ESA1777 - 1986 field observation by English Heritage
• ESA4785 - 1992-2000 Summary Condition Survey of SAMs in the Shropshire Hills Environmentally Sensitive Area by English Heritage
• ESA8727 - 2018 Heritage at Risk Survey by Historic England
• ESA8625 - 2014 Heritage at Risk Survey by Historic England
• ESA8621 - 2015 Heritage at Risk Survey by Historic England
• ESA8361 - 2016 Heritage at Risk Survey by Historic England
• ESA8362 - 2017 Heritage at Risk Survey by Historic England
• ESA8862 - 2014 WB during wall construction at The Napp, Pennerley by Nick Tavener Archaeological Services
• ESA9039 - 2019 DBA of land at The Napp, Pennerley by Nick Tavener Archaeological Services (Ref: 19/03871/VAR)
• ESA9068 - 2018 WB on groundworks for a garage to the S of Bowl barrow, The Napp, Pennerley by Nick Tavener (Ref: 16/00907/DIS)
• ESA9067 - 2019 Heritage at Risk Survey by Historic England
• ESA10445 - 2020 Third WB at The Napp, Pennerley by Nick Tavener (Ref: 19/03871/VAR)

Description

The Knapp, a round barrow. From The Knapp a (?natural) mound 15yds wide extends 39yds N from the hedge. Further down the hill (SO3516 9938) is a very low circular bank 13ft in diameter with three very small stones across it <1a>

Certainly a motte, with bailey, perhaps unfinished, to the north. OS FI 1958. From OS vert AP, at SO 3513 9936 is what appears to be a natural mound, bounded on its N and E by three straight sections of low bank. The Knapp is not included by Hogg and King in their list of Welsh Border Castles. OS Records comment 1973. A small mutilated motte situated upon the S end of a small, natural ridge, with commanding views in all directions. The mound, which is largely natural, has a base diameter of about 25m and a height of 4.8m on the W side. The S side has been cut about by the construction of a cottage, The Napp, and its boundary fences and banks. Around the N side of the summit, which has a diameter of 10m, is an earthen bank, 4m wide, 0.7m high, which may be evidence for this work being a ring work, the interior being about 2m above the level of the ridge to the N, or it may be the result from excavation into the mound from the S, for soil. There are no traces of a bailey, the ridge to the N being entirely natural. Nothing was seen on the ground of the straight sections of low bank (noted from the AP) nor of the circular bank, the field is of hummocky rough pasture which slopes to the W, N and E around the end of the ridge. OS FI 1973 <1>

Evaluated for MPP in 1990-1, Low score as one of 43 Motte castles <5>

Scheduling revised in 1999, at which point scheduled as a bowl barrow. Scheduling description: ->

-> The monument includes the earthwork and buried remains of a Bronze Age bowl barrow situated on the top, and at the southern end, of a natural north-south ridge, near to the summit of Round Hill. From this elevated position there are extensive views of the surrounding countryside, notably the Stiperstones to the east and the undulating lowlands to the north. The barrow on Round Hill, 200m to the west, is also clearly visible from this location, and is the subject of a separate scheduling. ->

-> The barrow mound is of earth and stone construction. It is about 20m in diameter and survives to a height of 2m. The height of the monument has been greatly enhanced by its topographic location. To the west, where no break of slope is now detectable between the ridge and the barrow mound, the combined height of these two features is 4m. ->

-> Although no longer visible at ground level, a ditch from which material was quarried during the construction of the barrow, surrounds the mound. This has become infilled over the years but survives as a buried feature approximately 3m wide. ->

-> Part of the top of the mound has been partly excavated, which has resulted in the creation of a level platform. At the base of the resulting 0.6m deep cut is an embedded stone slab. This slab may be the remains of a cist (a stone ( slab coffin) from a later intrusive burial within the mound. No records are known to survive of this excavation. ->

-> The modern field boundaries and fences, together with the outbuildings and enclosure walls associated with the cottage, are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath all these features is included. <6>

Photographed during aerial photographic survey in 2010. <7>

Visited during a condition survey by the English Heritage Field Monument Warden, in 2000. Condition recorded as fair, with damage caused by badgers. <8>

A watching brief was undertaken in 2014 during the removal and rebuild of a retaining wall at the SE corner of The Napp, Pennerley; this exposed a cross-section of the monument which was recorded in detail. ->

-> None of the deposits or features exposed in the section could be dated to the Bronze Age. No trace/evidence was recorded of a ditch surrounding the mound which would provide evidence for the interpretation as either a Bronze Age Barrow or as a Norman motte. The watching brief found evidence that the mound directly overlies a significant geological fault, possibly the site of ore-bearing lodes. Two vertically cut shafts were found sitting astride the line of that fault, along with a blocked tunnel [024], itself probably an entrance to an adit.->

->The author of this report suggests that this supports the reinterpretation of this monument as a spoil heap from the extensive metal mining carried out in this area. <9>

Correspondence copied to Mike Watson concerning the potential impact from excavation of foundations at The Napp bowl barrow, adjacent to the scheduled area. Includes a set of photos showing the extent of these groundworks. <10>

The ground works for a new garage were undertaken in June 2018 close to the bowl barrow. The 2018 ground works found no archaeological features, deposits or artefacts, but did find clear evidence for a geological fault running south to north straight towards the east side of the mound. Published geological data confirms the mound sits astride a major geological fault. This was cited as further evidence that the monument is nothing more than a spoil heap for a long-forgotten mine. <11>

Sources

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.