Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow set below the crest of Court Hill, on an
east-facing slope overlooking the valley of the River Wylye. The barrow mound
is 21m in diameter and 3.75m high. Surrounding the mound is a ditch from
which material was quarried during the construction of the monument. This
survives as an earthwork 6m wide and 0.5m deep on the south side of the mound,
and as a buried feature elsewhere.
The site was partially excavated by Colt-Hoare in the 19th century. Finds
included a cremation burial with a bronze dagger. The scars resulting from
early excavation can be seen on the surface of the monument.

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.

Despite partial excavation of the Court Hill bowl barrow, much of the monument
remains intact, survives comparatively well and has potential for the recovery
of further archaeological remains. The significance of the monument is
enhanced by the fact that numerous other round 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

Sources

Books and journals
'Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine' in Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine, , Vol. 49, (1958)

Source: Historic England