Details

The monument includes two bowl barrows aligned north east-south west and
situated in a valley overlooking the sea on the Dorset coast.
The north eastern barrow mound is 2m high and 21.5m in diameter. The south
western mound is 0.6m high and 10m across. Each mound is surrounded by a
ditch from which material was quarried during its construction.
These ditches can no longer be seen at ground level having become infilled
over the years, but survive as buried features c.5m and c.3m wide
respectively.
The post and wire fences which cross the monument are excluded from the
scheduling but the ground beneath is included.

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

Bowl barrows, the most numerous form of round barrow, 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 or rubble mounds, sometimes ditched, which covered single or multiple
burials. They occur either in isolation or grouped as cemeteries and often
acted as a focus for burials in later periods. Often superficially similar,
although differing widely in size, they exhibit regional variations in form
and a diversity of burial practices. There are over 10,000 surviving bowl
barrows recorded nationally (many more have already been destroyed), occurring
across most of lowland Britain. Often occupying prominent locations, they are
a major historic element in the modern landscape and their considerable
variation of form and longevity as a monument type provide important
information on the diversity of beliefs and social organisations amongst early
prehistoric communities. They are particularly representative of their period
and a substantial proportion of surviving examples are considered worthy of
protection.

The two bowl barrows in Halcombe Vale survive comparatively 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 the range of hills along the Dorset coast.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, , County of Dorset , (1970)

Source: Historic England