Details

The monument includes three adjoining bowl barrows aligned north west-south
east 150m south of Normanton Down round barrow cemetery, situated on a south
facing slope overlooking an east-west combe that separates Normanton Down
from Wilsford Down.
The mound of the north west barrow is 30m in diameter, surrounded by a ditch
4m wide and 0.75m deep, giving an overall diameter of 38m. The central barrow
is 14m in diameter and 0.75m high and has been constructed largely on the
south east margin of the northern barrow. The mound of the barrow south east
of this is 26m in diameter and 0.5m high. It is surrounded by a ditch which is
now difficult to identify on the ground having become infilled over the years,
but is calculated to be 2.5m wide, giving an overall diameter of 31m.
All three barrows were partially excavated during the 19th century when
primary cremations, one with a dagger, were found in the north west and south
east barrows and fragments of an interment were found in the central 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

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. 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, normally 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 variety of burial practices. There are over
10,000 surviving bowl barrows recorded nationally and at least 320 in the
Stonehenge area. This group of monuments will provide important information
on the development of this area during the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age
periods.

The three bowl barrows 150m south of Normanton Down round barrow cemetery
survive well, and all three are known from partial excavation to contain
archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the monument and
the landscape in which it was constructed.

Source: Historic England