Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow located on level ground 20m northwest of
Whitestown Farm. It is visible as a barrow mound 19m in diameter and c.1.75m
high at its highest point. The barrow mound has been spread by past
cultivation on all but its southern side where it has now been partly levelled
by road construction. 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.3m wide.
To the south of the monument the quarry ditch has been disturbed by a road
which is excluded from the scheduling. In addition, the fence which crosses
the barrow mound is excluded from the scheduling but the ground beneath both
the road and the fence is included.

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 20m northwest of Whitestown Farm survives comparatively well,
despite damage on the south side of the barrow by road construction. It
contains archaeological and environmental evidence relating both to the
monument and the landscape in which it was constructed.
The monument survives in an area which contains 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), p. 102
Tratman, EK, 'Proceedings of the Univ of Bristol Speleological Society' in Proceedings of the University of Bristol Speleological Society, , Vol. Vol 3(1), (1927), p. 31

Source: Historic England