Scheduled Monument: Bowl Barrow in Carden Park (1011142)

EXTRACT FROM ENGLISH HERITAGE'S RECORD OF SCHEDULED MONUMENTS MONUMENT: Bowl barrow in Carden Park PARISH: CARDEN DISTRICT: CHESTER COUNTY: CHESHIRE NATIONAL MONUMENT NO: 23635 NATIONAL GRID REFERENCE(S): SJ46365352 DESCRIPTION OF THE MONUMENT The monument is a bowl barrow located within a golf course in Carden Park on a saddle of higher ground to the south of The Birches wood. It includes an oval sand and earthen mound up to 1.5m high with maximum dimensions of 32m by 25m. 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. Despite minor disturbance to the surface of the monument, the bowl barrow in Carden Park survives well. It is a rare survival in Cheshire of an unexcavated example of this class of monument and will contain undisturbed archaeological deposits within the mound and upon the old land surface beneath. MONUMENT INCLUDED IN THE SCHEDULE ON 15th April 1994