Details

This monument includes a bowl barrow situated near the bottom of a south
facing slope, on the edge of a marshy area known as Stephill Bottom. The
barrow mound measures 5.8m in diameter and stands up to 0.3m high. There is
no trace of previous archaeological excavation, and the important
archaeological deposits are therefore probably intact. A ditch, from which
material was quarried during the construction of the monument, surrounds the
barrow mound. This has become partly infilled over the years but is visible
as a slight earthwork 1.4m wide on the eastern side of the mound and survives
as a buried feature elsewhere.

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.

The bowl barrow on the northern edge of Stephill Bottom survives in a
heavily waterlogged area. This makes it likely that environmental evidence
may survive relating to the landscape in which the monument was constructed.
Furthermore, the barrow survives in the New Forest, which is known to have
been important in terms of lowland Bronze Age occupation. A considerable
amount of archaeological evidence has survived in this area because of a lack
of agricultural activity, the result of later climatic deterioration,
development of heath and the establishment of a Royal Forest.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
Darvill, T, Monument Class Description - Bowl barrows, 1988,
Hampshire County Planning Department, SU 30 NE 2,

Source: Historic England