Details

The monument includes three closely spaced bowl barrows 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 barrows have mounds which range from 12m to 24m in diameter and 0.1m
to 2m high. Surrounding each mound is a ditch from which material was quarried
during its construction. Only one of these can still be seen at ground level
surviving as a depression 5m wide and 0.5m deep. The other two survive as
buried features c.2.5m wide.
The most northerly of the three barrows was excavated by Dunning who found a
cremation and sherds of pottery.

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 one of the barrows being partially excavated, the three bowl barrows
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.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Basford, H V, The Vectis Report: A Survey of Isle of Wight Archaeology, (1980), 112
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, (1940), 202-3
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, (1940), 202-3

Source: Historic England