Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow set on level ground immediately north of
the River Wylye. The barrow mound is 29m in diameter and 3.75m high.
Although no longer visible at ground level a ditch, from which material was
quarried during the construction of the monument, surrounds the mound. This
has become infilled over the years but survives 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. 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 north of Truncombe Wood is important as it survives
particularly well, despite some limited stock erosion, and has significant
potential for the recovery of archaeological remains. Its location on the
floor of the Wylye Valley gives it added importance in terms of the
possibility that waterlogged or organic remains may survive, particularly in
the ditch. The significance of the site is further enhanced by the fact that
numerous other long barrows survive in the area as well as additional evidence
for contemporary settlement. Such evidence provides a clear indication of the
extent to which the area was settled during the Bronze Age period.

Source: Historic England