Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow and bell barrow aligned north east-south
west and situated in a gently undulating downland setting. They lie on a west
facing hillside flanking a valley which runs north-south. To the north, beyond
the valley, are the flat plains reaching to the Solent.
The bowl barrow has a mound which measures 15.5m in diameter and 1m high. The
bell barrow has a central mound 13m in diameter and 1.5m high with a 3m wide
berm beyond this. Surrounding each mound is a ditch from which material
was quarried during its construction. These can no longer be seen at ground
level, but survive as buried features c.3m wide.
The bowl barrow was excavated by Dunning who found a cremation and sherds of
pottery. L V Grinsell found a piece of Bronze Age pottery on the bell barrow.

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.

Despite the bowl barrow being partially excavated, the bowl barrow and bell
barrow on Pay Down survive well and will contain archaeological remains and
environmental evidence relating to the cemetery and the landscape in which
it was constructed. The bell barrow is one of only nine on the Isle of Wight.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
CCM Arch Index, (1979)
Grinsell, , Sherwin, , 'Proceedings of the I.O.W. Nat History and Archaeological Soc' in Procedings of the I.O.W. Nat History and Archaeological Soc, , Vol. 3, (1940), 202-3

Source: Historic England