Summary

Round barrow 1km south-west of Litchfield Down

Source: Historic England

Details

This record was the subject of a minor enhancement on 18 June 2014. The 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 situated on a south-facing slope at Angle Down, south of Litchfield. It survives as a roughly circular-shaped mound about 25m in diameter and up to about 2.5m high. A surrounding quarry ditch from which material to construct the mound was derived is about 3.5m wide and 0.3m deep. A depression in the centre of the mound may be the result of an unrecorded partial excavation of the mound in the past. An internal cairn of flints has been observed within the depression.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

Round barrows 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 mounds, sometimes ditched, which covered single or multiple burials. They occur either in isolation or grouped as cemeteries and often acted as a focus of burials in later periods. They occur across most of Britain, including the Wessex area where it is often possible to classify them more closely, for example as bowl or bell barrows. Often occupying prominent locations, they are a major historic element in the modern landscape and their considerable variation in form and longevity as a monument type provide important information on the diversity of beliefs and social organisations amongst early prehistoric communities.

The round barrow at Angle Down survives well and will contain both archaeological and environmental information relating to the mound and its surrounding landscape.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
Hampshire HER 22568. NMR SU45SE4. PastScape 232689,

Source: Historic England