Record Details

NHER Number:6201
Type of record:Monument
Name:Gallow Hill Bronze Age bowl barrow cemetery

Summary

A Bronze Age barrow cemetery located to the north east of Salthouse Heath. The group consists of at least nine round barrows, one of these is considerably larger than the rest, 25m in diameter and would appear to be the earliest element of the cemetery. The smaller barrows to the south are arranged in two parallel lines, through which a trackway runs.

Images - none

Location

Grid Reference:TG 0795 4241
Map Sheet:TG04SE
Parish:KELLING, NORTH NORFOLK, NORFOLK

Full description

Group of eight mounds together, one ditched.
See (S1).

Part of 'Salthouse' group.
Main barrow (context 1) is ditched bowl with bank 4m (13 feet) wide, ditch 2.7m (9 feet) wide, mound 27m (88 feet) wide 1.8m (6 feet) high.
L.V. Grinsell, 18 June 1936.

Bank and ditch now 30cm high and deep respectively. Mound 2m high; road crosses outer bank on south; on heath.
A.J. Lawson (NAU), 30 January 1974.

There are in fact eight mounds besides this (not seven as schedule sheet).
Context 2 = 16m diameter, 1.5m high.
Context 3 = 9m diameter, 0.5m high.
Context 4 = 17m diameter, 1.2m high (contexts 2 to 4 contiguous).
Context 5 = 16m diameter, 0.5m high, ditched?.
Context 6 = 12m diameter, 1m high (contiguous with context 7).
Context 7 = 11m diameter, 1m high.
Context 8 = 13m diameter, 1m high.
Context 9 = 14m diameter, 1.4m high.
Context numbers are the same as on W.J. Bolding map around 1850.
All barrows covered with bracken and gorse on heath, consequently it is difficult to define ditches. Measurements taken when mounds covered in snow and easy to define.
Beaker (see NHER 6227) may have come from one of these.
A.J. Lawson (NAU), January 1976.

1983.
All mounds as published survey, much bracken on them.
J. Wymer (NAU).

1995.
(S2) gives Gallow Hill as 2m high, 27m across, ditch 3m wide.
E. Rose (NLA), 17 November 1995.

October 2002. Norfolk NMP.
A Bronze Age barrow cemetery located to the north east of Salthouse Heath and mapped from OS aerial photographs (S3-4). The group consists of at least nine round barrows, one of these is considerably larger than the rest, 25m in diameter and would appear to be the earliest element of the cemetery. The smaller barrows to the south are arranged in two parallel lines, through which a trackway runs. The main barrow (context 1) appears to be centred on TG 0796 4246 and measures 25m in diameter, with an outer ditch 2m wide and the outer bank varies in width between 3-4m wide. This gives the width of barrow as being slightly smaller than previous calculations, although it may be due to the aerial perspective. The outer bank is broken to the south east by a ditch that runs from TG 0797 4245 to TG 0801 4246. Also the northern arc of the bank is obscured from the air by the boundary and vegetation. Again the dimensions of the smaller barrows to the south are slightly different from those previously stated. Barrow/context 2 appears to be centred on TG 0803 4242 and is 16.5m in diameter. Barrow 3, TG 0801 4242 and 11m across. Barrow 4 is at TG 0800 4242 and is 15m across. These three barrows are fairly contiguous. Barrow 5 is centred on TG 0798 4251 and the mound appears to be 13.5m across. Traces of a possible outer bank, up to 3m wide, seemed visible on the OS aerial photographs from 1994 (S4). Barrow 6 is at TG 0796 4241 and is 14m across, and this was adjoined to barrow 7, which measures 13m across and is centred on TG 0795 4240. Context/barrow 8 is located at TG 0791 4241 and measures 13m in diameter, as does barrow 9, centred on TG 0793 4242. A possible tenth barrow (context 10), centred on TG 0793 4242, was visible on the 1969 Ordnance Survey aerial photographs (S3). This is located along the same alignment as the other two linear groups. It appears to be cut by the road to the north and measures approximately 10m across as visible. A visit to the site (December 2002) did not locate this potential tenth barrow. Although the vegetation and bracken were extremely high and therefore the existence of this feature could not be proven. A site visit when the vegetation is lower or cleared may find this possible tenth barrow. This Bronze Age barrow cemetery is likely to have developed around the larger more elaborate monument (context 1). This may be Early Bronze in date, possibly even late Neolithic. On the 1994 OS aerial photographs (S4) is banked and ditched linear feature can be seen to run in-between the two groups of smaller barrows from TG 0800 4243 to TG 0792 4240. This appears to be defined by two outer banks, up to 3.5m wide and a sunken, ditched central feature, approximately 3m wide. This appears to be some sort of road or trackway, which has been aligned in-between the two linear runs of barrows. It is possible that this could have been a medieval to post medieval date trackway across the heathland, prior to this triangle of land getting cut off from the main heath to the west by arable cultivation.
S. Massey (NMP), 19 December 2002.

2002. Stray find.
Found in disturbed soil a few metres from Gallow Hill barrow, 2002.
Iron Age basal sherd hard, dark grey reduced coarse sandy, externally sooted or burnt (weighing 13g).
A. Rogerson (NLA), 19 November 2003.

May 2003. Field observations.
National grid reference obtained by GPS and amended from original TG .
A group of mounds under dense bracken. A further possible barrow (suggested by 2002, Norfolk NMP) in the hedge adjacent to the group of eight was looked for but not found. A slight rise noted in the roadside bank at this location.
D. Gurney (NLA), 18 June 2003.

April 2009.
Scheduled Monument Consent granted for fencing.
D. Robertson (HES), 25 September 2012.

May 2009. Monitoring during installation of stock fencing.
Fencing installed to allow sheep grazing of both the northern and southern sections of Gallow Hill. The monitoring ensured the fence post locations were chosen so to minimise impact on the barrow earthworks.
D. Robertson (HES), 25 September 2012.

December 2010.
Section 17 management agreement (covering an earthwork survey) signed.
See (S5).
D. Robertson (HES), 10 January 2011.

March 2011. Earthwork survey.
Earthwork survey of entire Gallow Hill area.
See report (S6) for plan and further details.
D. Robertson (HES), 18 September 2012.

Monument Types

  • BANK (EARTHWORK) (Unknown date)
  • DITCH (Unknown date)
  • TRACKWAY (Unknown date)
  • BARROW CEMETERY (Late Neolithic to Late Bronze Age - 3000 BC to 701 BC)
  • ROUND BARROW (Late Neolithic to Late Bronze Age - 3000 BC to 701 BC)
  • TRACKWAY (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)

Associated Finds

  • POT (Beaker - 2300 BC to 1700 BC)
  • POT (Iron Age - 800 BC to 42 AD)

Protected Status

  • SHINE
  • Scheduled Monument

Sources and further reading

---Photograph: HP 35-6, BVB 7, CXV 6-7.
---Designation: [unknown]. Ancient Monuments Form. SAM Record. DNF141.
---Article in Serial: Whyte, N.. 2003. The after-life of barrows; prehistoric monuments in the Norfolk landscape.. Landscape History. Vol 25, pp 5-17. pp 5-16.
---Record Card: Ordnance Survey Staff. 1933-1979?. Ordnance Survey Record Cards. TG 04 SE 17, TG 04 SE 18,.
---Article in Serial: Robertson, D. & Paterson, H.. 2010. The Norfolk Monuments Management Project 1990-2010. Twenty Years Conserving the County's Rural Historic Environment.. Norfolk Archaeology. XLVI, pp 15-28.
---Record Card: Clarke, R. R. and NCM Staff. 1933-1973. Norwich Castle Museum Record Card - Bronze Age. Kelling.
---Secondary File: Secondary File.
---Slide: Various. Slide.
---Designation: English Heritage. 1990-2013. English Heritage Scheduling Notification. Notification. DNF146.
---Designation: English Heritage. 1994? -2011?. English Heritage Digital Designation Record. Record. DNF146.
<S1>Record Card: NAU Staff. 1974-1988. Norfolk Archaeological Index Primary Record Card.
<S2>Designation: Corbishley, M.. 1983. AM107.
<S3>Vertical Aerial Photograph: Ordnance Survey. 1969. OS/69037 046-7 03-APR-1969.
<S4>Vertical Aerial Photograph: Ordnance Survey. 1994. OS/94172 027-8 14-JUN-1994.
<S5>Unpublished Document: Norfolk County Council. 2010-2011. Norfolk Monuments Management Project Section 17 agreement.
<S6>Unpublished Contractor Report: Cushion, B. 2011. Gallow Hill, Kelling. Archaeological Earthwork Survey. Brian Cushion Archaeological & Cartographical Surveyor.

Related records

38629Part of: Salthouse Barrow Cemetery (Monument)
6227Part of: Unprovenance Mesolithic and Neolithic worked flints and Beaker pot, Kelling Heath (Kelling, poorly located) (Find Spot)

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