Details

The monument includes two bowl barrows in a gently undulating downland
setting. They lie on a sloping east facing ridge top with flanking valleys to
the north and south.
The bowl barrows have mounds which measure 38m and 28m in diameter with
average heights of 1.75m and 0.7m respectively. Surrounding each mound is a
ditch from which material was quarried during its construction. These can no
longer be seen at ground level, having become infilled over the years, but
survive as buried features c.7m and 5m wide.
It is reported that a labourer remembered `various relics' including an
ancient sword having been ploughed up near these barrows. The larger barrow
was opened in 1928 by Mew and Wood Roberts, but no burial was found. Worked
flints were found on the smaller barrow by E W Swanton in 1928. An excavation
on this barrow, also by Mew and Wood Roberts, discovered a cremation 0.5ft
above the natural chalk and sherds from a medieval cooking pot also appear to
have been recorded as being from the barrow.

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.

Despite partial excavation and later ploughing, the bowl barrows south east of
Slocum Copse survive well and will contain archaeological remains and
environmental evidence relating to the barrows and the landscape in which they
were constructed. These barrows form part of the eastern group of round
barrows which complete the sequence of Bronze Age burials along the central
chalk ridge of the Isle of Wight.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, , Sherwin, , 'Proceedings of the I.O.W. Nat History and Archaeological Soc' in Procedings of the I.O.W. Nat History and Archaeological Soc, (1940), 206-7
Grinsell, , Sherwin, , 'Proceedings of the I.O.W. Nat History and Archaeological Soc' in Procedings of the I.O.W. Nat History and Archaeological Soc, (1940), 206-7
Kell, , 'Journal of the British Archaeological Association' in Journal of the British Archaeological Association, , Vol. 2, (1855), 312
Other
Title: County Council Museum 6" Map
Source Date:
Author:
Publisher:
Surveyor:

Title: County Council Museum 6" Map
Source Date:
Author:
Publisher:
Surveyor:

Source: Historic England