Summary

Round barrow cemetery 680m north west of Luckley Farm.

Source: Historic England

Details

This record was the subject of a minor enhancement on 10 July 2015. This record has been generated from an "old county number" (OCN) scheduling record. These are monuments that were not reviewed under the Monuments Protection Programme and are some of our oldest designation records.

The monument includes a round barrow cemetery of eight bowl barrows in two discrete groups of four situated on the upper northern valley slopes of the River Dikler. The barrows survive as circular mounds surrounded by quarry ditches from which the construction material was derived, some of the ditches are visible and some are preserved as buried features. The barrow mounds vary in size from 9m up to 20m in diameter and from 0.7m up to 2m high. At least three have visible ditches and one mound is crescent-shaped being best preserved on the eastern side and two are conjoined by their ditches. The two groups are approximately 30m apart.

Further archaeological remains in the vicinity are the subject of separate schedulings.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

Round barrow cemeteries date to the Bronze Age (c.2000-700 BC). They comprise closely-spaced groups of up to 30 round barrows - rubble or earthen mounds covering single or multiple burials. Most cemeteries developed over a considerable period of time, often many centuries, and in some cases acted as a focus for burials as late as the early medieval period. They exhibit considerable diversity of burial rite, plan and form, frequently including several different types of round barrow, occasionally associated with earlier long barrows. Where large scale investigation has been undertaken around them, contemporary or later "flat" burials between the barrow mounds have often been revealed. Round barrow cemeteries occur across most of lowland Britain, with a marked concentration in Wessex. In some cases, they are clustered around other important contemporary monuments such as henges. Often occupying prominent locations, they are a major historic element in the modern landscape, whilst their diversity and their longevity as a monument type provide important information on the variety of beliefs and social organisation amongst early prehistoric communities. They are particularly representative of their period.

Despite extensive scrub growth the barrows which form the round barrow cemetery 680m north west of Luckley Farm survive well and will contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to their construction, relative chronologies, territorial significance, social organisation, ritual and funerary practices and overall landscape context.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
PastScape 330094

Source: Historic England