See important guidance on the use of this record.

If you have any comments or new information about this record, please email us.

Summary

One of a row of six bowl barrows, three of which including this one are scheduled. Located on the west side of the road south of Highermoor Cross. The mound is just under 31 metres diameter and 1.3 metres high. It is visible as a sub-circular earthwork mound on 1940’s RAF aerial photographs and on visualisations derived from lidar data captured in 2004 and 2013.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1020608: Three bowl barrows 240m south east of Highermoor

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SS20NE/505
• Old SAM Ref: 34273
• Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division: SS20NE4

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• BOWL BARROW (Late Neolithic to Late Bronze Age - 3000 BC to 701 BC (Between))

Full description

Unknown, Glebe Cottage and its Six Acres of Glebe Land (Cartographic). SDV344112.

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

The mound corresponds with an earthwork labelled as ‘Tumuli’.

Ordnance Survey, 1904 - 1906, Second Edition Ordnance Survey 25 inch Map (Cartographic). SDV325644.

'Tumuli' shown.

Royal Air Force, 1946 - 1949, Royal Air Force Aerial Photographs (Aerial Photograph). SDV342938.

A sub-circular mound is visible as an earthwork.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1952 - 1977, SS20NE4 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV344110.

Site visit 31st October 1977. One of a group of three bowl barrows under pasture situated on a flattish hilltop. Barrow C: is a 31 metres diameter bowl barrow and is 1.8 metres high. No visible ditch.

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

Site visit 7th April 1969. Pasture. Diameter 30 paces, height 3.5 feet.

Devon Committee for Rescue Archaeology, 1979 - 1981, North Devon Barrow Survey, DCRA ND5 (Archive - Survey). SDV341310.

Site visit 20th November 1979. Diameter 33.7 metres, height 1.03 metres. Spread and flattened by ploughing. No sign of ditch. Now in pasture, fairly good condition.

Bayer, O. J., 1996, Barrows in the Torridge District of North West Devon: A Study in Distribution and Location, Pancrasweek 3, 53-4, Fig. 15, Photo 16 (Undergraduate Dissertation). SDV319515.

Environment Agency, 2000-2019, LiDAR DTM data (1m resolution) EA: Tamar Aerial Survey project area, LIDAR Environment Agency LAST RETURN 19-DEC-2004 (Cartographic). SDV363954.

A sub-circular mound is visible as an earthwork.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 2001, Three Bowl Barrows 240 Metres South-east of Highermoor (Schedule Document). SDV344111.

This monument includes three bowl barrows in an approximately east to west alignment situated on an upland ridge forming the watershed between the valleys of the River Tamar and the Small Brook. Each barrow includes a mound surrounded by a quarry ditch from which material was derived during its construction. For all except the westernmost barrow, these features are no longer visible but survive as buried features approximately 3 metres wide. The eastern mound measures up to 30.9 metres in diameter and 1.3 metres high.

Cornwall Archaeological Unit, 2001-2002, Tamar Valley National Mapping Programme Transcriptions and Database Records (Interpretation). SDV346287.

This feature has been previously transcribed by the Tamar Valley NMP survey. Further details from the survey database, including aerial photograph references and interpretive text, are awaiting accessioning.

NERC, 2013, LiDAR DTM data (1m resolution) Tellus: Tamar Aerial Survey project area, LIDAR Tellus LAST RETURN 01-JUL-2013 to 31-AUG-2013 (Cartographic). SDV363955.

A sub-circular mound is visible as an earthwork.

Hegarty, C., Houghton, E., Knight, S. and Sims, R., 2020-2021, Tamar/Lidar; A Single Source Approach to Landscape Survey and Socially Distanced Community Archaeology Area 2 (Culture Recovery Fund project) (Interpretation). SDV364011.

A sub-circular earthwork mound, circa 30 metres long by 25 metres wide, is visible on 1940’s RAF aerial photographs and on visualisations derived from lidar data captured in 2004 and 2013.
The mound corresponds with one of three earthworks that are depicted and labelled as ‘Tumuli’ on the late 19th century First Edition Ordnance Survey map. It forms one of a group of six possible barrows (MDV7117, MDV7116, MDV60124, MDV76198 & MDV129826) that have been recorded in this location. The barrows are aligned along the edge of a ridge of high ground in a north-east to south-west orientation.
This feature has been previously transcribed by the Tamar Valley NMP survey. These transcriptions have been superseded by those resulting from this survey.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV4415 - Devon Barrow Survey
• EDV8356 - Tamar/Lidar; A Single Source Approach to Landscape Survey and Socially Distanced Community Archaeology Area 2 (Culture Recovery Fund) (Ref: ACD2424)

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