Details

The monument includes a cluster of six bowl barrows lying on lowland heath
close to the Dorset coast, and forming part of the Coombe Beacon round barrow
cemetery.
Of the six barrows, three are quite prominent, standing to 1m high, whilst the
other three are c.0.5m high. The mounds vary between 6m and 27m in diameter.
Surrounding each of the mounds are ditches 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 ranging in
width from c.1m to c.4m.

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 six bowl barrows on Coombe Heath form part of the Coombe Beacon barrow
cemetery. They have survived well and contain 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.

Source: Historic England