Scheduled Ancient Monument: TWO BOWL BARROWS ON TROSTON HEATH, ONE KNOWN AS BLACK HILL (31089)

The monument includes the large bowl barrow known as Black Hill, a second bowl barrow which lies 50m to the south west of it and the archaeologically sensitive ground between them. These stand in former heathland to the north east of Troston village. Black Hill is visible as a large earthen mound, which stands to a height of approximately 2.7m and covers a circular area about 33m in diameter. It has steep sides on all but the south east side which slopes at a more shallow angle. The mound is encircled by a ditch, from which the earth was dug during the construction of the barrow. This has become infilled but survives largely as a buried feature, and is marked on the north east side by a slight hollow about 4m wide. The barrow therefore has a maximum overall diameter of 41m. The second smaller bowl barrow is visible as a roughly circular mound, approximately 26m in diameter, standing on the north side to a maximum height of 1m and shelving slightly to the south. Slight hollows, 3m wide, in the ground surface immediately to the north of the mound mark the site of the ditch which encircles the mound, and will survive elsewhere as a buried feature. The barrow has a diameter of about 32m. The surface of the trackway to the south and the rubble dump to the west of the smaller barrow, together with the fencing and other structures of a pheasant pen between the two barrows are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath these features is included.