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Description

Reasons 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 100m south west of Gally Hill Farm is a prominent monument in the landscape, clearly visible from the adjacent highway. Although the monument has been disturbed, the greater part of it remains intact and will retain valuable archaeological deposits, including funerary remains, beneath the mound and in the fills of the buried ditch. These will provide further information relating to its period and construction and the mortuary practices of its builders. Environmental evidence preserved in the same features will illustrate the landscape in which the monument was set. Details The monument includes the earthwork and buried remains of a Bronze Age bowl barrow located 137m above sea level about 100m south west of Gally Hill Farm, on the east side of Sixhills Lane, Ludford. The grassy mound is situated in an arable field on the southern slope of the valley of the River Bain. The mound is sub-circular, measuring c.35m by 30m and is thought to have been slightly degraded by ploughing on the eastern side. It stands to a maximum height of approximately 2.5m although a central transect running north west - south east disrupts the barrow's profile. This transect was cut during archaeological investigations in 1941. The encircling ditch from which material for the mound would have been quarried is not now visible but is thought to survive beneath the present ground surface. Fieldwalking in the area of the barrow in 1977 and 1992 produced a number of worked flints. The monument's name is a corruption of gallows hill and it is thought that the mound supported a gallows during the post-medieval period. Sources Books and journals Williams, A, 'Antiquarians Journal' in Notice of Excavations in Ludford Magna, , Vol. 28, (1941), 27 Other discussion with local archaeologist, Field, N, Gally Hill bowl barrow, excavations, (1995) text, Coupland, F and Field N, Stenigot-Bully Hills Water Pipeline Archaeological Investigation, (1992)

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