Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow set on level ground 450m east of Bristol
Plain Farm and adjacent to an area of former quarrying, now partially
infilled. It comprises a mound 21m in diameter and c.2.5m high. Although no
longer visible at ground level a ditch, from which material was quarried
during the construction of the monument, surrounds the barrow mound. This has
become infilled over the years but survives as a buried feature c.2m wide on
the northern, eastern and southern sides of the mound. It is likely to have
been destroyed by quarrying on the western side. The monument is the
southernmost of a group of four barrows aligned on a north-south axis.

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 450m east of Bristol Plain Farm survives well and has
potential for the recovery of archaeological and environmental evidence
relating both to the monument and the landscape in which it was constructed.
The importance of the monument is enhanced by its location in an area which
exhibits a concentration of contemporary burial monuments, thus giving an
indication of the nature and scale of human occupation during the Bronze Age
period.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, L, 'Proceedings of the Somerset Archaeology and Natural Hist Soc' in Somerset Barrows Part II, , Vol. Vol 115, (1971), 111
Tratman, E K, 'Proceedings of the Univ of Bristol Speleological Society' in Fieldwork, , Vol. Vol 2(3), (1925), 284-5

Source: Historic England