Details

The monument includes a levelled saucer barrow and a levelled bowl barrow
located 250m north of the A344 and south of the Lesser Cursus, situated on a
gentle south facing slope on Winterbourne Stoke Down. The barrows are aligned
broadly north west-south east with the bowl barrow to the north west and the
saucer barrow 20m to the south east. The barrows are now difficult to identify
on the ground but partial excavation in 1961 has shown the mound of the bowl
barrow to be 13m in diameter and surrounded by a quarry ditch 4.5m wide giving
the barrow an overall diameter of 22m. Partial excavation of the saucer barrow
revealed a quarry ditch 24m in diameter surrounding the mound. The outer bank
of the saucer barrow is visible on aerial photographs as a chalk spread 30m
overall diameter. Partial excavation in the 19th century produced primary
cremations in each of the barrows. A cremation in an oval grave was found in
the saucer barrow during the 1961 excavation.

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

A small number of areas in southern England appear to have acted as foci for
ceremonial and ritual activity during the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods.
Two of the best known and earliest recognised areas are around Avebury and
Stonehenge, now jointly designated as a World Heritage Site. The area of chalk
downland which surrounds Stonehenge contains one of the densest and most
varied groups of Neolithic and Bronze Age field monuments in Britain. Included
within the area are Stonehenge itself, the Stonehenge cursus, the Durrington
Walls henge, and a variety of burial monuments, many grouped into cemeteries.
The area has been the subject of archaeological research since the 18th
century when Stukeley recorded many of the monuments and partially excavated a
number of the burial mounds. More recently, the collection of artefacts from
the surfaces of ploughed fields has supplemented the evidence for ritual and
burial by revealing the intensity of contemporary settlement and land-use. In
view of the importance of the area, all ceremonial and sepulchral monuments of
this period which retain significant archaeological remains are identified as
nationally important. Saucer barrows are funerary monuments of the Early
Bronze Age. They occur either in isolation or in round barrow cemeteries and
were constructed as a circular area of level ground defined by a bank and
internal ditch and largely occupied by a single low, squat mound covering one
or more burials, usually in a pit. The burials, either inhumations or
cremations, are sometimes accompanied by pottery vessels, tools and personal
ornaments. Saucer barrows are one of the rarest recognised forms of round
barrow, with about 60 examples nationally, most of which are in Wessex. At
least ten examples are known from the Stonehenge area. The presence of grave
goods within the barrows provides important evidence for chronological and
cultural links amongst prehistoric communities over a wide area of southern
England, as well as providing an insight into their beliefs and social
organisation.

Bowl barrows, the most numerous form of round barrow, are funerary monuments
dating from the Late Neolithic period to the Late Bronze Age. They were
constructed as earthen or rubble mounds, normally ditched, which covered
single or multiple burials. Often superficially similar, although differing
widely in size, they exhibit regional variations in form and a variety of
burial practices. The burials, either inhumations or cremations, are sometimes
accompanied by pottery vessels, tools and personal ornaments. There
are over 10,000 surviving bowl barrows recorded nationally and at least 320 in
the Stonehenge area.
Despite being levelled by cultivation, the bowl barrow and the saucer barrow
250m north of the A344 are known from partial excavation to contain
archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the monument and
the landscape in which it was constructed.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, LV, The Victoria History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume V, (1957), 202
Grinsell, LV, The Victoria History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume V, (1957), 224
Hoare, R C, Ancient History of Wiltshire, (1812), 165
RCHME, , Stonehenge and its Environs, (1979), 6
'Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine' in Excavations and Fieldwork in Wiltshire 1961, (1963), 242
'Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine' in Excavations and Fieldwork in Wiltshire 1961, (1963), 242
Gingell, C, 'Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine' in Excavations of Twelve Wiltshire Round Barrows, (1988), 19-76
Gingell, C, 'Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine' in Excavations of Twelve Wiltshire Round Barrows, (1988), 19-76

Source: Historic England