Ancient Monuments

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Bowl barrow immediately west of the Ridgeway, 400m north east of its junction with Green Street

A Scheduled Monument in Preshute, Wiltshire

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Coordinates

Latitude: 51.4402 / 51°26'24"N

Longitude: -1.82 / 1°49'11"W

OS Eastings: 412609.241

OS Northings: 171258.348597

OS Grid: SU126712

Mapcode National: GBR 4WR.NP7

Mapcode Global: VHB45.D2Q8

Entry Name: Bowl barrow immediately west of the Ridgeway, 400m north east of its junction with Green Street

Scheduled Date: 17 February 1927

Last Amended: 5 September 1994

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1008500

English Heritage Legacy ID: 21740

County: Wiltshire

Civil Parish: Preshute

Traditional County: Wiltshire

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): Wiltshire

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow immediately west of the Ridgeway, 400m
north east of its junction with Green Street. The barrow mound has been
reduced by cultivation but survives as a low mound c.16m in diameter and up to
0.1m high. Surrounding the mound is a quarry ditch from which material was
obtained during its construction. This is no longer visible at ground level
but will survive as a buried feature c.3m wide. When visited in 1956, prior to
being reduced by cultivation, this barrow had a hollow centre which suggests
that it was partially excavated by an antiquarian during the last century.
Further partial excavation was undertaken in 1960; the finds are housed in
Devizes Museum.

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

A small number of areas in southern England appear to have acted as foci for
ceremonial and ritual activity during the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age
periods. Two of the best known and earliest recognised, with references in the
17th century, are around Avebury and Stonehenge, now jointly designated as a
World Heritage Site. In the Avebury area, the henge monument itself, the West
Kennet Avenue, the Sanctuary, West Kennet long barrow, Windmill Hill
causewayed enclosure and the enigmatic Silbury Hill are well-known. Whilst the
other Neolithic long barrows, the many Bronze Age round barrows and other
associated sites are less well-known, together they define one of the richest
and most varied areas of Neolithic and Bronze Age ceremonial monuments in the
country. 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, normally 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 and around 320 in the Avebury area. This group of
monuments will provide important information on the development of this area
during the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age periods. All surviving examples are
considered worthy of protection.

The bowl barrow immediately west of the Ridgeway is well documented and,
despite reduction by cultivation and partial excavation, it will contain
archaeological and environmental remains relating to its construction and to
the landscape in which it was built.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, LV, 'A History of Wiltshire' in A History of Wiltshire, , Vol. 1 pt 1, (1957)
Other
SU06NE651, CAO, Bowl barrow, (1983)
SU17SW672, Jeffery, PP and King, R, Avebury Management 305, (1989)

Source: Historic England

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