Details

The monument includes six of the eight round barrows which make up a nucleated
cemetery situated south of Fargo Road on Durrington Down. This group includes
four bowl barrows and two saucer barrows. Only two of the barrows, a saucer
and a bowl barrow, are now visible as earthworks, the remainder having been
levelled by ploughing. The visible saucer barrow forms the southernmost barrow
of the cemetery and the second saucer barrow is located 2m to the north west
of it. A fifth bowl barrow is located c.50m to the east, and a sixth 50m to
the north; both are the subject of separate schedulings.
The mound of the upstanding bowl barrow is 1.2m high and 14m in diameter, and
is surrounded by a ditch 2m wide which survives as a slight earthwork. The
mound of the upstanding saucer barrow is 20m in diameter and is surrounded by
a ditch 3.5m wide and 0.75m deep and an outer bank 3.5m wide and 0.75m high,
giving an overall diameter of 34m. The levelled barrows are represented on
aerial photographs, the County Series Ordnance Survey 6" map of 1887 and the
25" map of 1924, from which their mounds have been calculated as between 15m
and 20m in diameter. All are surrounded by ditches from which material was
quarried during their construction. These have become infilled over the years
but survive as buried features c.2m wide, giving overall diameters for the
bowl barrows ranging between c.19m and c.24m. The overall diameter of the
second saucer barrow is 30m. The majority of the barrows have been partially
excavated in the 19th century and contained either cremations or inhumations
together with accompanying grave goods.
The post and wire fence which crosses the mound of the northernmost barrow is
excluded from the scheduling but the ground beneath it is included.

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.

These barrows, forming part of the round barrow cemetery south of Fargo Road,
are known from partial excavation to contain archaeological remains and
environmental evidence relating to the monument and the landscape in which it
was constructed. The monument also contains examples of rare saucer barrows,
of which there are only 60 known examples.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
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), 171
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), 170
Grinsell, LV, The Victoria History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume V, (1957), 171
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
Other

Source: Historic England