Details

The monument includes a levelled Bronze Age bowl barrow on Great Litchfield
Down, situated c.730m south west of the unfinished Iron Age hillfort on the
summit of Ladle Hill. The barrow is on a gentle slope not far from the steep
western scarp of Great Litchfield Down.
The barrow was described as formerly having a mound c.14.65m in diameter and
c.0.6m high. Surrounding the area of the mound is a ditch from which material
was quarried during the construction of the monument. This has become infilled
over the years but survives as a buried feature c.2.5m wide. The overall
diameter of the barrow, including the ditch, is 17.25m.
All fencing and associated posts are excluded from the scheduling but the
ground beneath them 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.

Much of the archaeological landscape of Ladle Hill and the surrounding downs
is preserved as earthworks or crop- or soil-marks, which together will provide
a detailed understanding of the nature and development of agriculture, land
use and settlement on the north Hampshire downs.
The barrow 730m south west of the unfinished Iron Age hillfort is part of the
wider distribution of monuments of Bronze Age and later date on the downs
around Ladle Hill. Despite the levelling of the barrow mound, the infilled
quarry ditch and features underneath the mound will survive, containing
archaeological and environmental information relating to the construction and
use of the barrow.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Piggott, S, 'Antiquity' in Ladle Hill-an unfinished hillfort, , Vol. 5, (1931), 485

Source: Historic England