Scheduled Monument: Bowl Barrow 500M South-South-West Of Home Farm (1007386)

EXTRACT FROM ENGLISH HERITAGE'S RECORD OF SCHEDULED MONUMENTS MONUMENT: Bowl barrow 500m south-south-west of Home Farm PARISH: LOWER WITHINGTON DISTRICT: MACCLESFIELD COUNTY: CHESHIRE NATIONAL MONUMENT NO: 22585 NATIONAL GRID REFERENCE(S): SJ80687220 DESCRIPTION OF THE MONUMENT The monument is a bowl barrow located on flat land 500m south of Home Farm. It includes an oval turf mound up to 1m high with maximum dimensions of 35m by 31m. Limited antiquarian investigation at the centre of the barrow located an urn containing human remains. The central area was re-excavated in 1982/3 and revealed the monument to be of two phases. In the latter phase two pits had been cut into the subsoil and each surrounded by a ring of stakeholes. Radio carbon dating of material from one of the stakeholes dated this to around 900 BC. Backfill from the antiquarian investigation produced a volume of finds including substantial remains of 6 decorated pots, a barbed and tanged flint arrowhead and a trimming flake from a Neolithic polished axe. ASSESSMENT OF IMPORTANCE Bowl barrows, the most numerous form of round barrow, are funerary monuments dating from the Late Neolithic period to the Late Bronze Age, with most examples belonging to the period 2400-1500 BC. They were constructed as earthen or rubble mounds, sometimes ditched, which covered single or multiple burials. They occur either in isolation or grouped as cemeteries and often acted as a focus for burials in later periods. Often superficially similar, although differing widely in size, they exhibit regional variations in form and a diversity of burial practices. There are over 10,000 surviving bowl barrows recorded nationally (many more have already been destroyed), occurring across most of lowland Britain. Often occupying prominent locations, they are a major historic element in the modern landscape and their considerable variation of form and longevity as a monument type provide important information on the diversity of beliefs and social organisations amongst early prehistoric communities. They are particularly representative of their period and a substantial proportion of surviving examples are considered worthy of protection. The monument survives well and is a rare example in Cheshire of a bowl barrow originally constructed in Neolithic times and re-used during the Bronze Age. Limited 19th and 20th century excavation of the monument's centre located human remains, pottery and stone artefacts, and further evidence of interments and grave goods will exist within the mound and upon the old landsurface beneath. MONUMENT INCLUDED IN THE SCHEDULE ON 20th October 1993