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Summary

One of a row of six bowl barrows, three of which including this one, are scheduled. Situated on the west side of the road south of Highermoor Cross. The barrow is oval, about 34 by 27 metres diameter and has been somewhat flattened by ploughing. It is visible as a sub-circular earthwork mound on 1940’s RAF aerial photographs and visualisations derived from lidar data captured in 2004 and 2013.

Location

Protected Status

• SHINE: Prehistoric bowl barrow at Highermoor Cross
• Scheduled Monument 1020608: Three bowl barrows 240m south east of Highermoor

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SS20NE/503
• Old SAM Ref: 34273
• Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division: SS20NE4

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• BOWL BARROW (Bronze Age - 2200 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.

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 A: a bowl barrow 38.0 metres in diameter and 1.3 metres high with a trace of a ditch on its south-west side, 9.0 metres wide and 0.2 metres deep.

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

Site visit 7th April 1969. Arable and under corn, not measured precisely. Diameter approximately 25 paces, height approximately 3 feet.

Devon Committee for Rescue Archaeology, 1979 - 1981, North Devon Barrow Survey, DCRA ND3 (Archive - Survey). SDV341310.

Site visit 20th November 1979. Diameter 34.0 metres, height 1.10 metres. Big mound in pasture. Somewhat flattened by ploughing. Signs of ditch but not as wide as Ordnance Survey suggests. Good condition.

Bayer, O. J., 1996, Barrows in the Torridge District of North West Devon: A Study in Distribution and Location, Pancrasweek 1, 53-4, Fig. 15, Photos 15-16 (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. Part of the ditch of the westernmost barrow is visible to the south-west where it survives as a 3.1 metres wide and up to 0.2 metres deep feature; elsewhere it is buried like the others in the group. The western mound is oval in shape and measures 33.8 metres long south-west to north-east by 28.6 metres wide north-west to south-east and is 1.3 metres high. The western barrow is partially overlain by a field boundary across its ditch on the north-western side. This field boundary is excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath is included.

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.

Ordnance Survey, 2014, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV355681.

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 28 metres in diameter, is visible on 1940’s RAF aerial photographs and 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 (MDV7118, MDV7117, 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)

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