Monument record 0124502000 - Ivinghoe Beacon Bowl Barrow

Dimensions - Height 1m.
Plan Form - Circular.
Within the Scheduled Ancient Monument (19067) of the hillfort, there is a bowl barrow with a flat top and a height of 1m plus (2). The barrow is ditched (2). A round barrow is again noted within Ivinghoe Beacon hillfort (B4) and the scheduling documentation refers to a second (saucer?) barrow (B11).
English Heritage's Earthwork Survey Report of November 2000, suggests that the Bronze Age/Iron Age society of the Chilterns eventually formed into a single kingdom farming the slopes of the hills and avoiding the heavily forested valley bottoms. During the later Bronze Age, the focus of settlement began to move down into the valleys and this is when the hillfort is likely to have been abandoned. Survey evidence suggests a further two barrows inside the fort to the east of the barrow already noted. Four post structures might be interpreted as an excarnation platform showing the continuing funerary importance (B17).


Diameter 23 paces; height 3 1/2ft. Ditched (B21).
23.0m in diameter, 1.5m maximum height. The silted-up ditch is visible as a level strip around the mound, 4.0m in width. The summit of the mound has been flattened and is crossed by a broad footpath. In the E side of the mound is a small crater and spoil heap (B22).
Towards the NW corner of the hillfort are the remains of a heavily eroded but still substantial barrow. It is located at the highest point of the hill, and the subsequent siting of an Ordnance Survey trig pillar and a more recent observation point have contributed to the erosion by encouraging the Ridgeway footpath to croos the barrow. The barrow comprises an irregularly shaped mound, 12.2m by 9.1m by 1.6m high, with a narrow groove across it cause by walkers, the latter obliterating any traces there might have been for an early excavation. Four scoop-like hollows appear to form a segmented ditch around the perimeter of the mound, averaging 2.7m wide by 0.1m deep. This mound may also mark the site of a fire beacon (B17)