Scheduled Ancient Monument: TWO BOWL BARROWS IN SPRATT'S PLANTATION. (21268)

The monument includes two bowl barrows situated in the south eastern corner of a plantation on the east side of Martlesham Heath. The barrows are approximately 33m apart in an east-west alignment and each is visible as an earthen mound encircled by a ditch. The mound of the eastern barrow stands to a maximum height of 1.84m and covers a circular area approximately 25m in diameter. On its surface is a slight, linear hollow, marking the site of a trench dug from the western side towards the centre during World War II. A limited excavation, carried out in 1974, established that this trench was not deep enough to have penetrated the base of the mound or the surface which underlies it. The mound itself was not investigated but three sherds of pottery were found, including one of prehistoric type. The surrounding ditch, from which earth was dug and used during construction of the mound, has become largely filled but it is still visible on the western side of the mound as a slight depression in the ground surface, approximately 3m wide and 0.1m deep. The mound of the western barrow stands to a maximum height of 1.4m and covers a circular area approximately 19m in diameter. Parts of the southern and western sides have been dug away, leaving an irregular profile in all except the north eastern quadrant. The surrounding ditch is visible on the eastern side of the mound as a slight hollow in the ground surface, approximately 3m wide and 0.15m deep. Excavation of the sites of two adjacent barrows, which no longer survive as visible monuments, discovered extensive evidence of Early Bronze Age occupation on the soil surfaces which had been preserved beneath their mounds.