Details

The monument includes the surviving portion of a once more extensive bowl
barrow situated on chalk downland behind the hills of the Dorset coast. The
remainder of the barrow mound has been levelled and possibly destroyed by
earthmoving and cultivation.
The barrow mound, which lies on the west side of a field boundary, now
measures 19m north-south and 9m east-west, and is 0.5m high. Beyond the
extant part of the mound is a ditch from which material was quarried during
its construction. This has become infilled over the years and can no longer
be seen at ground level. It does, however, survive as a buried feature c.5m
wide.
The field bank and the wire fence which cross the original extent of the
barrow but which now define its eastern boundary, are excluded from the
scheduling but the ground beneath is included.

MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.

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.

Despite having been partially removed and the remainder reduced in height as a
result of cultivation over the years, the bowl barrow to the west of Burngate
Wood contains archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to
the monument, the group of barrows of which it is part, and the landscape in
which it was constructed. This barrow is one of a number which survive on the
chalk and heathland between the River Frome and the Dorset coast.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, , County of Dorset , (1970)
Other
Dorset C. C., NMR record in Dorset CC SMR,

Source: Historic England