Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow set below the crest of a gentle south-west
facing slope in an area of undulating chalk downland. The barrow mound is 30m
in diameter and stands to a height of 1m. Surrounding the barrow mound is a
ditch, no longer visible at ground level, surviving as a buried feature c.3m
wide.

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. Their ubiquity and their tendency to occupy
prominent locations makes them 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 organisation amongst early prehistoric communities. They are
particularly representative of their period and a substantial
proportion of surviving examples are considered worthy of protection.

Despite limited plough damage, the Earl's Farm Down bowl barrow
survives well under cultivation and, as there is no evidence of formal
excavation on the site, has considerable archaeological potential. The
importance of the site is further enhanced by its incorporation within
a barrow cemetery. Such cemeteries provide valuable information on the
variety of beliefs and social organisation amongst Bronze Age
communities. Individual barrows within such cemeteries are central to
their interpretation and therefore of considerable importance.

Source: Historic England