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Summary

Two conjoined Prehistoric bowl barrows to the south of Rews Cross. A cremation burial and a bead necklace have been found at this site.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1019256: Two conjoined bowl barrows 190m south of Rews Cross
• SHINE: Two conjoined prehistoric barrows south of Rews Cross

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: 35078
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SS73SW/10
• Old SAM County Ref: 268A
• Old SAM Ref: 34245
• Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division: SS73SW1

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• BOWL BARROW (Bronze Age - 2200 BC to 701 BC (Between))

Full description

Ordnance Survey, 1880-1899, First Edition Ordnance 25 inch map (Cartographic). SDV336179.

Outline of barrow shown but not labelled on 19th century map.

Ordnance Survey, 1906, 15NW (Cartographic). SDV322568.

Fox, A., 1949, Sixteenth report on the early history of Devon, 87 (Article in Serial). SDV116765.

Bead necklace found in a barrow on Beacon Hill, Rew's Cross together with an urn and flint implements. Composed of five segmented and three biconical beads of turquoise blue faience, eight biconical and oblate lignite beads and part of an amber bead. Of egyptian origin, the first to be recorded in devon (see Beck and Stone, Archeologia, 1936, page 203, for others found in Britain).

Fox, A. + Stone, J. F. S., 1951, A Necklace From a Barrow in North Molton Parish, North Devon, 25-31, Figs 1-2, Pl. 7A (Article in Serial). SDV343132.

One of a group of three barrows uncharacteristically for Bronze Age people not on the hill-top but halfway up its gentle incline.
Some of the beads are dateable to about 1400BC and all are representative of Middle Bronze Age culture.

Ministry of Works, 1951, Three Barrows near Rews Cross (Schedule Document). SDV345029.

Three Barrows near Rews Cross. Barrow a) 48 foot (14.63 metres) diameter by 2 foot six inches to 3 foot (0.72-0.91 metres) high with no ditch. The barrow had been ploughed. Faience beads were found with a cremation, potsherds and flint implements in 1889. Other details: Barrow a).

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1952 - 1973, SS73SW1 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV345033.

Barrow A: a ploughed down bowl barrow of 16 metres diameter by 0.6 metres high.
Barrow D: a low amorphous mound of 15 paces diameter by 1 foot high which has been disturbed by hedge clearance on the west side. Probably a bowl barrow.
Grinsell located the two barrows and stated that either could have been the site of the cremation burial with the bead necklace. Other details: Barrows A and D.

Grinsell, L. V., 1970, The Barrows of North Devon, 126 (Article in Serial). SDV7849.

Fox, A., 1973, South West England 3,500BC - AD600 (Revised Edition), 87 (Monograph). SDV16216.

Ploughed down. A cremation burial from a barrow on Beacon Hill. Discovered when ground gave way during ploughing, revealing a hole. May have been a kist. No stones reported. Beads in Exeter Museum.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 2000, Two Conjoined Bowl Barrows 190 metres south of Rews Cross (Schedule Document). SDV345028.

Two conjoined bowl barrows 190 metres south of Rews Cross. This monument includes two conjoined bowl barrows situated on a prominent hill known as Bampfylde Hill overlooking the valley of the River Mole. They form part of a dispersed group of barrows recorded in this area. The south eastern barrow survives as a circular mound which measures 19.8 metres in diameter and 0.6 metres high. The surrounding quarry ditch from which material to construct the mound was derived is preserved as a buried feature measuring approximately 3 metres wide. This barrow is conjoined by its mound and probably also its ditch to a second barrow lying immediately to the north west, which measures 15.4 metres in diameter and 0.4 metres high. The outer ditch to this second barrow is also preserved as a buried feature, measuring approximately 3 metres wide. The south eastern barrow was subject to ploughing in 1889, when a cist, cremation burial, flint implements and a necklace of Faience beads were discovered.

National Monuments Record, 2010, 35078 (National Monuments Record Database). SDV345032.

A pair of conjoined bowl barrows on Bampfylde Hill (apparently known locally in the past as Beacon Hill. The two mounds are conjoined, and it is assumed that any associated ditches would be also. The south-eastern barrow comprises a mound circa 20 metres in diameter and 0.6 metres high. The north-western mound is circa 15 metres in diameter and 0.4 metres high. In 1889, during ploughing, cremated bone, potsherds and flints were found along with 18 beads, presumed to represent a necklace. Five were segmented faience beads, three biconical faience beads, nine of shale or lignite and one of amber. The beads are in the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter. The other finds are presumed lost. It is presumed that the reported finds represented either a primary or secondary cremation. They were most probably found in the south-eastern barrow, primarily because the north-western one was not recognised until the 1960s.

Ordnance Survey, 2010, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV344030.

'Tumulus' shown on modern mapping.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds

• FDV3030 - BEAD (LANEBA to Unknown - 2200 BC)
• FDV1687 - POT (Early Bronze Age to Early Iron Age - 2200 BC to 700 BC)
• FDV1685 - TOOL (Early Bronze Age to Early Iron Age - 2200 BC to 700 BC)

Associated Events: none recorded

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