Details

This monument includes two bowl barrows situated on the crest of a gentle
north-facing slope overlooking Worts Gutter. The southern barrow mound
measures 7.5m in diameter and stands up to 0.7m high. A shallow hollow in
the mound centre may be the result of an early excavation. A ditch, from
which material was quarried during the construction of the monument,
surrounds the barrow mound. This has become slightly infilled over the years
but survives as a slight earthwork 1m wide and 0.05m deep on the west and
east sides of the mound. The northern barrow mound measures 5m in diameter
and stands up to 0.2m high. Although no longer visible at ground level, an
encircling ditch survives as a buried feature c.1m 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.

The two bowl barrows in Hawkhill Inclosure are part of a widely scattered
group of round barrows in the New Forest, an area known to have been important
in terms of lowland Bronze Age occupation. A considerable amount of
archaeological evidence has survived in this area because of a lack of
agricultural activity, the result of later climatic deterioration, development
of heath and the establishment of a Royal Forest.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
Darvill, T C, Monument Class Descriptions - Bowl Barrows (1988), 1988,
Hampshire County Planning Department, SU30SW7B,
Hampshire County Planning Department, SU30SW7C,

Source: Historic England