Ballowall Barrow

 archaeological site, neolithic age, barrow/tumulus/burial mound, interesting place, National Trust property (UK), scheduled ancient monument, bronze age, English Heritage

Ballowall is a prehistoric funerary cairn spanning the Neolithic and Middle Bronze Age periods. Sited on Ballowall Common overlooking the rugged granite cliffs of Cape Cornwall. Ballowall 'Barrow' cairn lies between the highway and a public footpath; Ballowall Common is open access land managed by The National Trust.

The site consists of a chambered round cairn or entrance grave. A small covered gallery, leading only a short way into the cairn was found and under its paved floor were burnt human bones and fragments of pottery apparently of the Bronze Age. Behind the gallery but quite separate from it was a small empty cist. A well-built oval wall was found at the centre of the cairn and within it, at ground level, was 4 small cists one of which contained a small Late Bronze Age urn. Another cist, containing animal bones and fragments of pottery, was found in the middle of the cairn about 5 feet above ground level. There was a considerable amount of broken pottery found in the mound. In addition, a Roman coin discovered in a small cist set high up within the mound suggests that the site continued to be a focus of local attention well after the Bronze Age.

The walkway around the central mound and the revetted central space were built by Borlase after excavation so that visitors could see the cists and other features which would be hidden had the site been fully reconstructed. Finds from the site are in museums at Truro and Cambridge, and the British Museum, London.

The site is in the guardianship of English Heritage, and is managed by the National Trust.
list.english-heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1013...

www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=421654