Details

The monument includes 13 of the 14 round barrows which make up the Durrington
Down round barrow cemetery. Together they occupy an east-west ridge from which
Stonehenge and The Cursus are visible.
The 13 barrows contained within this monument are tightly clustered and
include nine bowl barrows, two disc barrows and two saucer barrows. An
outlying bowl barrow, the subject of a separate scheduling, is situated
further east.
The nine bowl barrows in this monument each have a mound and a surrounding
ditch from which material was quarried during its construction. In most cases
these have become infilled over the years, but some remain visible as
earthworks. Sizes of the bowl barrows range from 10m to 30m overall diameter.
The saucer and disc barrow mounds each have an encircling ditch and outer
bank, while the disc barrow mounds are each separated from their ditches by a
level berm or platform. Both saucer barrows have an overall diameter of 38m
and the disc barrows measure 30m and 36m overall diameter.
All the barrows within this monument were partially excavated in the 19th
century revealing, in some cases, a previous opening. A variety of cremations
and skeletons, including that of a child, were found together with an
assortment of associated finds.

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 Bronze Age periods.
Two of the best known and earliest recognised areas are around Avebury and
Stonehenge, now jointly designated as a World Heritage Site.
The area of chalk downland which surrounds Stonehenge contains one of the
densest and most varied groups of Neolithic and Bronze Age field monuments in
Britain. Included within the area are Stonehenge itself, the Stonehenge
cursus, the Durrington Walls henge, and a variety of burial monuments, many
grouped into cemeteries.
The area has been the subject of archaeological research since the 18th
century when Stukeley recorded many of the monuments and partially excavated a
number of the burial mounds. More recently, the collection of artefacts from
the surfaces of ploughed fields has supplemented the evidence for ritual and
burial by revealing the intensity of contemporary settlement and land-use. In
view of the importance of the area, all ceremonial and sepulchral monuments of
this period which retain significant archaeological remains are identified as
nationally important.
Round barrow cemeteries date to the Bronze Age (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 and occasionally associated with
earlier long barrows. Where investigation beyond the round barrows has
occurred, contemporary or later 'flat' burials between the barrow mounds have
often been revealed. Round barrow cemeteries occur across most of lowland
England with a marked concentration in Wessex. In some cases they are
clustered around other important contemporary monuments, as is the case both
here and at Avebury. Often occupying prominent positions, they are a major
historic element in the modern landscape, while their diversity and their
longevity as a monument type provide important information on the variety of
beliefs and social organisation amongst early prehistoric communities.

Despite partial excavation of all of the barrows within the monument, this
part of the Durrington Down round barrow cemetery survives well. It also
contains examples of rare types of barrow including disc barrows of which
there are only 250 examples recorded nationally, and saucer barrows of which
only 60 examples are known.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Cunnington, B H, Woodhenge, (1929)
Grinsell, LV, The Victoria History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume V, (1957), 170
Grinsell, LV, The Victoria History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume V, (1957), 170
Grinsell, LV, The Victoria History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume V, (1957), 223
Grinsell, LV, The Victoria History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume V, (1957), 223
Grinsell, LV, The Victoria History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume V, (1957), 217
Grinsell, LV, The Victoria History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume V, (1957), 170
Grinsell, LV, The Victoria History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume V, (1957), 170
Grinsell, LV, The Victoria History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume V, (1957), 170
Grinsell, LV, The Victoria History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume V, (1957), 170
Grinsell, LV, The Victoria History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume V, (1957), 170
Grinsell, LV, The Victoria History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume V, (1957), 217
Grinsell, LV, The Victoria History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume V, (1957), 170
Grinsell, LV, The Victoria History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume V, (1957), 170
Hoare, R C, Ancient History of Wiltshire, (1812), 167
Hoare, R C, Ancient History of Wiltshire, (1812), 167
Hoare, R C, Ancient History of Wiltshire, (1812), 167
Hoare, R C, Ancient History of Wiltshire, (1812), 167
Hoare, R C, Ancient History of Wiltshire, (1812), 167
Hoare, R C, Ancient History of Wiltshire, (1812), 167
Hoare, R C, Ancient History of Wiltshire, (1812), 167
Hoare, R C, Ancient History of Wiltshire, (1812), 167
Hoare, R C, Ancient History of Wiltshire, (1812), 167

Source: Historic England