Monument record MDO5065 - Bowl barrow, one of the Launceston Down South Group, Tarrant Launceston

One of a group of at least thirteen round barrows on the southern part of Launceston Down. This barrow was excavated in 1938 by S and C M Piggott, who found a crouched burial beneath the barrow mound which they recorded as 40 feet in diameter and one foot high. The burial was in the centre of the mound and associated with a leaf-shaped arrowhead. The barrow is no longer extant as an earthwork.

Round barrows between 200 ft. and 250 ft. above O.D., extend in an irregular line from W.to E. on the northwood-facing slope of a dry combe which falls E. to the Crichel brook. All were excavated in 1938 by S and C M Piggott; they are no longer visible on the ground. A Neolithic round barrow on Launceston Down, part of a cemetery excavated in 1938. The barrow is no longer extant as an earthwork. On excavation, the site proved to be a low natural knoll which had been thinly covered with earth and stones. This low mound was circa 1.3 feet high above the natural chalk. The "apparent diameter" was 40 feet. Near the centre, below the mound, was a crouched inhumation laid on its left side upon a layer of flint nodules. The nodules had been placed directly on the old ground surface. A leaf shaped flint arrowhead was found among the ribs of the skeleton. At the feet of the inhumation were two intersecting postholes. The excavators assumed that one was a replacement for the other. <1-2> <4> (C) Launceston. ST 956 107 (sic) Listed by Kinnes as a Neolithic round barrow with 1 adult inhumation, with a leaf arrowhead between the ribs, lying on a layer of flint nodules with 2 postholes at the feet. <5> Visited by MPPA in March 2000, but since all are heavily denuded, not recommended for scheduling. <6>

Record last edited

Feb 23 2024 12:52PM