Details

The monument includes six of the seven bowl barrows which make up a round
barrow cemetery situated next to a childrens' playground within Larkhill Camp,
south of The Packway and east of Lightfoot Road. Six barrows now
survive; the seventh has been built over by houses, and is not included.
The southernmost barrow in this cemetery is c.16m in diameter and 1m high,
with traces of a ditch c.2m wide giving an overall diameter of c.20m. The
southern half of the barrow is difficult to identify having been disturbed by
earthmoving activity. The barrow 22m NW of this is 18m in diameter and 1.9m
high, with a shallow ditch 2m wide, giving an overall diameter of 22m. A third
barrow 15m to the NE is visible as a slight earthwork c.0.25m high, and from
its representation on the Ordnance Survey six inch map of 1887, has an overall
diameter of c.20m. The remaining three bowl barrows, including a twin or
confluent barrow, are difficult to identify on the ground, probably as a
result of the former use of the area as a military camp. All three survive as
levelled mounds and are surrounded by ditches from which material was quarried
during their construction. Two of the three are represented on the Ordnance
Survey six inch map of 1887, from which their overall diameters are calculated
to be c.15m, and the third is mapped by a 19th century fieldworker and has an
overall diameter of c.40m. Partial excavation of all six barrows in the 19th
century revealed burials and a variety of associated finds.
The tarmac surface of the playground which crosses part of one of the barrows
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.

Despite disturbance caused by the former use of the area as a military camp,
partial excavation has shown that all six bowl barrows forming most of the
round barrow cemetery in Larkhill Camp contain archaeological remains and
environmental evidence relating to the monument and the landscape in which it
was constructed. The cemetery includes an unusual twin or confluent bowl
barrow.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
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), 171
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), 171
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), 171
Hoare, R C, Ancient History of Wiltshire, (1812), 168
Hoare, R C, Ancient History of Wiltshire, (1812), 168
Hoare, R C, Ancient History of Wiltshire, (1812), 168
Hoare, R C, Ancient History of Wiltshire, (1812), 169
Hoare, R C, Ancient History of Wiltshire, (1812), 169
Hoare, R C, Ancient History of Wiltshire, (1812), 169

Source: Historic England