Monument record MDO5088 - Bowl barrow west of Hyde Hill Plantation, Tarrant Launceston

A probable Bronze Age bowl barrow, additional to those initially recorded as the Hyde Hill Plantation cemetery group. Measures less than 0.2m high with a diameter of 15m. Truncated by ploughing. Not initially identified as the 1940s aerial photographs used showed the area as woodland.

This bowl barrow is part of the Hyde Hill Plantation barrow cemetery (see ST 91 SE 61) on the crest of a chalk ridge between two streams, on Launceston Down, 1200m south-east of Manor Farm. It is the most northerly of four ploughed out barrows on a south-facing slope forming an extended line roughly aligned north-west to south-east on the west side of the cemetery. Now lying in an arable field, it was formerly in woodland. The round barrow was visible as a very slight rise when visited in 2000 for MPPA, measuring less than 0.2m high with a diameter of 15m. Geophysical survey and excavation may determine the extent of survival and potential of the quarry ditch and mound. Ground photo with MPPA archive report. <1>

Other round barrows in the cemetery are recorded as ST 91 SE 193 to 204, 233, 234, 236 and ST 91 SW 116.

The probable Bronze Age bowl barrow referred to above <1> is not visible on the available 1940s aerial photographs due to its location in woodland. <3>

<1> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1989, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1988, 143 (Serial). SDO88.

<2> English Heritage, English Heritage Alternative Action Report, SJ Lobb, MPPA, Mar-2000 (Scheduling record). SDO18279.

<3> Bishop, Sharon, 2009, Tarrant Launceston 15 & Environs. Aerial Photograph Survey & Analysis, Sharon Bishop/10-SEP-2008 Tarrant Launceston 15 and environs aerial photograph survey and analysis (Unpublished document). SDO12459.

<4> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1408632 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Apr 17 2024 10:29AM