Details

The monument includes a round barrow cemetery known as `Five Barrows' lying on
lowland heath close to the Dorset coast.
The monument includes five of an original group of six barrows, two of which
are bowl barrows and three bell barrows.
The most southerly barrow is a bowl barrow c.2m high and 19m in diameter.
Another bowl barrow, c.1m high and 15.3m across, lies 13.6m to the north of
this. Each of these mounds was surrounded by a ditch from which material was
quarried during their construction. These can no longer be seen at ground
level, having become infilled over the years, but survive as buried features
c.2.5m wide. Some 5m due north of the northern bowl barrow is a bell barrow
c.2m high and 51.2m in diameter. Surrounding the bell barrow mound is a berm
2m wide and a ditch 6m wide and 1m deep with a later re-cut 3m wide. A second
bell barrow c.3m high and 55.4m across with a 2m wide berm lies 4m to the
north. The ditch of this barrow is 1.25m deep and 5.2m wide and has probably
been re-cut in modern times. The most northerly barrow in the cemetery lies 2m
beyond the previous one and is a bell barrow c.2m high with a diameter of
45.9m and a berm 2m wide. The barrow ditch has been re-cut and is 6.2m wide
and 1.25m deep.

MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features,
considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

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
and a substantial proportion of surviving or partly-surviving examples are
considered worthy of protection.

The round barrow cemetery on Lulworth Heath has survived well and contains
archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the monument and
the landscape in which it was constructed. These barrows are amongst a number
which survive on this piece of heathland between the River Frome and the
Dorset coast. The cemetery is of interest in that it contains both bowl
barrows and three examples of the less common bell barrows.

Source: Historic England