Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow located on level ground 450m southwest of
Fernhill Farm. It is visible as a barrow mound 23m in diameter and c.1.25m
high at its highest point. The barrow mound has been spread by past
cultivation. 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.
The barrow was partially excavated by H Taylor in 1926. Finds from the site
included Early to Middle Bronze Age pottery and the tips of two antler picks.
The finds are now located in the University of Bristol Speleological Society
Museum.

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 southwest of Fernhill Farm survives well and, despite a
small area of localised disturbance caused by H Taylor's excavation in 1926,
much of the monument remains intact. It therefore 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
Taylor, H, 'Proceedings of the Univ of Bristol Speleological Society' in Third Report On The....Mendip Barrows, , Vol. Vol 2(3), (1925), p.212
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
Other
Dennison, E, (1985)

Source: Historic England