Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow forming part of a round barrow cemetery on
the upper part of Black Down, on a gentle, north facing slope overlooking a
valley to the north in an area of the South Dorset Downs.
The barrow has a mound composed of earth, chalk and flint with a maximum
diameter of 24m and a maximum height of c.3.5m. There is a boundary wall
crossing the mound and this forms the parish boundary. The mound is surrounded
by a ditch from which material was quarried during the construction of the
monument. This remains visible as an earthwork 3m wide on the western side of
the barrow. Elsewhere it is no longer visible as it has become infilled over
the years, but it will survive as a buried feature.

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

Round barrow cemeteries date to the Bronze Age (c.2000-700 BC). They comprise
closely-spaced groups of up to 30 round barrows - rubble or earthen mounds
covering single or multiple burials. Most cemeteries developed over a
considerable period of time, often many centuries, and in some cases acted as
a focus for burials as late as the early medieval period. They exhibit
considerable diversity of burial rite, plan and form, frequently including
several different types of round barrow, occasionally associated with earlier
long barrows. Where large scale investigation has been undertaken around them,
contemporary or later "flat" burials between the barrow mounds have often been
revealed. Round barrow cemeteries occur across most of lowland Britain, with a
marked concentration in Wessex. In some cases, they are clustered around other
important contemporary monuments such as henges. Often occupying prominent
locations, they are a major historic element in the modern landscape, whilst
their diversity and their longevity as a monument type provide important
information on the variety of beliefs and social organisation amongst early
prehistoric communities. They are particularly representative of their period
and a substantial proportion of surviving or partly-surviving examples are
considered worthy of protection.

The bowl barrow 550m north east of Pitcombe Farm survives well and will
contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to the monument and
the landscape in which it was constructed.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
Mention of parish boundary wall,

Source: Historic England