Details

The monument includes two bowl barrows aligned north east to south west and
situated on a broad east-west spur in an area of chalk downland. These barrows
are two of the three surviving examples within a round barrow cemetery that
once contained at least seven. The eastern barrow survives as a mound 20m
north-south, 14m east-west and 0.7m high, surrounded by a ditch from which
material was quarried during the construction of the monument. This is no
longer visible at ground level having become infilled over the years but
survives as a buried feature c.3m wide. The second barrow is 12m to the west
and survives as mound 10m in diameter and 0.4m high. This too is surrounded by
a ditch from which material was quarried and which now survives as a buried
feature c.1.5m wide.

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 monument on Leatherhead Down includes two of only three barrows surviving
of an originally larger cemetery. The barrows survive comparatively well and
contain archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the
monument, the cemetery of which they formed a part and the landscape in which
the cemetery was constructed.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Poulton, R, O'Connell, M G, 'Surrey Archaeological Collections' in Recent Discoveries South Of Tyrell's Wood Golf Course Near Leatherhead, , Vol. 75, (1984), 289-292

Source: Historic England