Details

The monument includes one of three bowl barrows situated on chalk downland
above the Dorset coast. The barrow is prominently sited with views to the
north over Chaldon Down.
The barrow mound measures 20.2m in diameter and c.0.2m high, and is surrounded
by a ditch from which material was quarried during its construction. This has
become infilled over the years and can no longer be seen at ground level. It
does, however, survive as a buried feature c.4m 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

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.

Despite having been reduced in height over the years due to cultivation, the
bowl barrow c.200m south east of Hill Barn is one of a group which together
will contain archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the
monument and the landscape in which it was constructed. This barrow is one of
a number which survive on the chalk and heathland between the River Frome and
the Dorset coast.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, , County of Dorset , (1970)
Grinsell, L V, 'Procs Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Soc.' in Dorset Barrows, (1959)

Source: Historic England