Barrowfield, Great Amwell (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Gallows Plain

In the civil parish of Hertford.
In the historic county of Hertfordshire.
Modern Authority of Hertfordshire.
1974 county of Hertfordshire.
Medieval County of Hertfordshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: TL34751311
Latitude 51.80041° Longitude -0.04720°

Barrowfield, Great Amwell has been described as a Timber Castle although is doubtful that it was such.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Mound 10' high and 150' round, no trace of burial on excavation (Renn 1971).

Although slightly disturbed by the construction of a golf bunker, the bowl barrow near Gallows Plain is of large size and has never been excavated. It contains archaeological and environmental evidence relating both to the monument and to the landscape in which it was constructed.
The monument includes a bowl barrow situated east of Hertford, on the crest of a hill overlooking the River Lea. The hemispherical earth mound measures 40m east-west by 46m north-south and is c.1.6m high. The north side of the barrow has been slightly disturbed by the construction of a bunker on the former golf course. Although no longer visible, a ditch, from which material was excavated for the construction of the monument, surrounds the barrow mound. This has been infilled over the years but survives as a buried feature c.2m wide. (Scheduling Report)

On the East Herts Golf Course, in a commanding position above the Lea Valley, there is a large barrow measuring 40.0m east-west, 46.0m north-south and 1.6m high. Although of a bowl shape, it has been spread and mutilated by a bunker on the lower northern slopes. There is no visible ditch. The field-name 'Barrow Field' is very significant. A beacon probably occupied the site in the 16th century (F1 CFW 08-AUG-60).
This area has been developed for housing but the barrow has been preserved, untouched, within a concrete fence (F2 JRL 10-DEC-75). (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1010757, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 20627
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 367795.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 98.

Books
- Renn, D.F., 1971, Medieval Castles in Hertfordshire (Chichester: Phillimore) p. 13 (Doubtful)
  RCHME, 1910, An inventory of the historical monuments in Hertfordshire (London: HMSO) p. 95 no. 6 online transcription
Periodical Articles
- Isaacson, S., 1848, Journal of the British Archaeological Association Vol. 3 p. 324-5 online copy

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.

The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
Help is acknowledged.

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