Details

The monument includes two round barrows, a bell barrow and a bowl barrow,
situated 300m south of the Normanton Down barrow cemetery, on a south east
facing slope with views across the Avon valley.
The bowl barrow is 20m north east of the bell barrow and has a mound 20m in
diameter and 0.3m high. It is surrounded by a ditch from which material was
quarried during its construction. This is no longer visible, having become
infilled over the years, but is calculated to be c.2m wide, giving an overall
diameter of 24m. The bell barrow has a mound 3.3m high and 26m in diameter,
surrounded by a berm 5m wide and an outer ditch 8m wide and 0.25m deep, giving
an overall diameter of 52m. Partial excavation of the bowl barrow in the 19th
century revealed a primary cremation.
All fence posts are excluded from the scheduling, but the ground beneath these
features 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 the 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.

Bell barrows, the most visually impressive form of round barrow, are funerary
monuments dating from 1600-1200 BC. They occur either in isolation or in
round barrow cemeteries. They were constructed as single or multiple mounds
covering burials often in pits and surrounded by an enclosure ditch. The
burials in bell barrows appear to be those of aristocratic individuals and
are also frequently accompanied by weapons, personal ornaments and pottery
vessels. Bell barrows are rare nationally with only 250 examples known, of
which 30 are located within the Stonehenge area.

Bowl barrows, the most numerous form of round barrow, are funerary monuments
dating from the Late Neolithic period to the Late Bronze Age. They were
constructed as earthen or rubble mounds, normally ditched, which covered
single or multiple burials. Often superficially similar, although differing
widely in size, they exhibit regional variations in form and a variety of
burial practices. The burials, either inhumations or cremations, are
sometimes accompanied by pottery vessels, tools and personal ornaments. There
are over 10,000 surviving bowl barrows recorded nationally and at least 320 in
the Stonehenge area.

The bell barrow situated 300m south of the Normanton Down round barrow
cemetery survives well. Partial excavation of the bowl barrow has shown that
it contains archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the
monument and the landscape in which it was constructed.

Source: Historic England