Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow, situated on the upper east-facing slopes of a gently sloping wide ridge called West Littleton Down, overlooking the valley of a tributary to the Broadmead Brook. The barrow survives as a circular flat-topped mound measuring up to 25m in diameter and 1.5m high. It is surrounded by a buried quarry ditch, from which the material for its construction was derived.

Sources: PastScape 204804
South Gloucestershire HER 1968

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

Bowl barrows, the most numerous form of round barrow, are funerary monuments dating from the Late Neolithic period to the Late Bronze Age, with most examples belonging to the period 2400-1500 BC. They were constructed as earthen or rubble mounds, sometimes ditched, which covered single or multiple burials. They occur either in isolation or grouped as cemeteries and often acted as a focus for burials in later periods. Often superficially similar, although differing widely in size, they exhibit regional variations in form and a diversity of burial practices. Often occupying prominent locations, they are a major historic element in the modern landscape and their considerable variation of form and longevity as a monument type provide important information on the diversity of beliefs and social organisations amongst early prehistoric communities. They are particularly representative of their period. The bowl barrow 555m SSW of Turnpike Farm survives well and will contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to its construction, longevity, territorial significance, social organisation, funerary and ritual practices and overall landscape context.

Source: Historic England