Details

The monument includes a pond barrow located some 700m south of the A344 and
250m north of Winterbourne Stoke Crossroads round barrow cemetery, situated on
a gentle slope with views to the south and west. The central depression of the
barrow is 0.6m deep and 26m in diameter and is surrounded by an outer bank
which survives as a slight earthwork c.0.2m high and 5m wide, giving the
barrow an overall diameter of 36m.

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 the 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.

Pond barrows are ceremonial or funerary monuments of the Early to Middle
Bronze Age, most examples dating to between 1500 and 1000BC. The term `barrow'
is something of a misnomer as, rather than a mound, they were constructed as
regular circular depressions with an embanked rim and, occasionally, an outer
ditch or an entrance through the bank. Pond barrows occur either in isolation
or within round barrow cemeteries. Pond barrows are the rarest form of round
barrow, with about 60 examples recorded nationally and a distribution largely
confined to Wiltshire and Dorset, many of which are in the Stonehenge area. As
few examples have been excavated they have a particularly high value for
future study. Due to their rarity all identified pond barrows will normally
be considered to be of national importance.
The pond barrow 700m south of the A344 on Winterbourne Stoke Down survives
comparatively well and will 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), 225

Source: Historic England