Two Tumuli and a Mound
Magic Map has many options to explore in and around our area. On that link we discover that the bowl barrow and tumulus are actually scheduled monuments! Recently (May 2013, by kind permission of the farmer), a little allotment has sprung up on the houses side of the mound. Also a bird feeder to attract Red Kites (no joy yet).
click pics to ENLARGE
Bowl Barrow
Looking NNE from Church Street back gardens, Maiden Bradley. This bowl barrow type tumulus or burial mound is located in the corner of a cereal field adjacent to what was once Leather's Coaches garage. English Heritage defines this artifact as follows: "Bronze Age bowl barrow lying on level ground 100 metres south east of the crossroads in Maiden Bradley. The barrow includes a mound approx 30 metres in diameter and 1.7 metres high. The mound, which shows signs of a shallow disturbance on its north west side, is surrounded by a quarry ditch which has become infilled over the years but will survive as a buried feature 3 metres wide. Scheduled."
Reason For Designation
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 bowl barrow 110m south east of crossroads, Maiden Bradley is, despite limited erosion caused by cultivation, a well preserved example of its class. The barrow will contain archaeological remains providing information about Bronze Age beliefs, economy and environment.
also see: Pastscape
The Geometrical Arrangement of Ancient Sites
A development of the “Straight Track” Theory
by Major F. C. Tyler, O.B.E.
“To guide my course aright.
What mound, or steady mere
Is offered to my sight?"
"Continuing the alignment, some miles on we strike the village of Maiden Bradley, where we pick up a mound in the centre of the place." (p-3)
There is another tumulus in Maiden Bradley and one 'mound'. The bell barrow is fenced off and supports a clump of trees at the edge of a grazing field behind Bradley Cottage, Church Street.The mound is along Kingston Lane (just before Kingston Cottages, in a field on the left). . .
Bell Barrow
Looking WSW in a grazing field behind Bradley Cottage, Church Street, Maiden Bradley. This fenced off burial mound has sprouted a mature set of trees which appear as a distinct clump beside a woody hedge. Originally bowl-shaped it now has a 'bite' out of its easterly side (as shown in photograph). This may be the result of soil acquisition for land fill purposes in the past. The site is possibly Bronze Age, however no further information is currently available to confirm this. ["It has formerly been dug into on the south side for the construction of a building (now demolished)." - Pastscape)
Reason for Designation
Bell barrows, the most visually impressive form of round barrow, are funerary monuments dating to the Early and Middle Bronze Age, with most examples belonging to the period 1500-1100 BC. They occur either in isolation or in round barrow cemeteries and were constructed as single or multiple mounds covering burials, often in pits, and surrounded by an enclosure ditch. The burials are frequently accompanied by weapons, personal ornaments and pottery and appear to be those of aristocratic individuals, usually men. Bell barrows (particularly multiple barrows) are rare nationally, with less than 250 known examples, most of which are in Wessex. Their richness in terms of grave goods provides evidence for chronological and cultural links amongst early prehistoric communities over most of southern and eastern England as well as providing an insight into their beliefs and social organisation. As a particularly rare form of round barrow, all identified bell barrows would normally be considered to be of national importance.
The bell barrow 70m north of Church Farm House is a well preserved example of its class. Despite some disturbance to the mound and the part infilling of the surrounding ditch the barrow exhibits a largely original profile and will contain archaeological remains providing information about Bronze Age burial traditions, economy and environment.
-
The monument includes a ditched bell barrow, lying on level ground 70m north of Church Farm House on the west side of Maiden Bradley. The barrow has a mound 20m in diameter and 3.2m high, the southern side of which has been disturbed by a substantial cutting. The mound is surrounded by a sloping berm which averages 10m in width, beyond which are traces of a ditch approximately 4m wide. The ditch, from which material to construct the mound was quarried, survives, where not visible on the surface, as a buried feature. All fence posts are excluded from the scheduling although the ground beneath these features is included.
also see: Pastscape
Field Mound
[Not designated as a scheduled artifact.]
Looking ESE across a field of corn adjacent to the cottages on Kingston Lane, Maiden Bradley. Mound can be seen rising in the distance covered in corn. (Sadly, it is slowly, year on year, being ploughed under - however, its rocky substrate may resist this agricultural erosion).
"A mound of sandy earth, 36.0m across and 0.8m high, spread and flattened by ploughing. There is no trace of a surrounding ditch and although it is possibly a barrow it could be dumped material or a natural rise. Surveyed at 1/2500 at ST 80873870."
Selected from my submissions at Geograph
Also see Maiden Bradley on Geograph
02-07-11 / updated 02-07-13