Details

The monument includes one of four bowl barrows set on a low ridge in an area
of undulating chalk downland in the valley below High Chaldon containing
rivulets draining into the River Frome.
The barrow mound is 27m in diameter and c.2m high. Surrounding the mound is a
ditch from which material was quarried during the construction of the
monument. The ditch can no longer be seen at ground level, having become
infilled over the years, but survives as a buried feature c.4.5m wide.
The barrow is situated on an earlier lynchet or field bank which survives up
to 2m high and continues eastwards to run beneath the other three barrows
which make up this group.

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 to the NNW of the village of Chaldon Herring survives well,
despite having a rounded profile due to ploughing in the past, and will
contain archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the
monument and the landscape in which it was constructed. This is one of
numerous barrows which survive locally and, as such, adds to the understanding
of Bronze Age settlement in the area.
The monument is unusual in that it was constructed on a substantial lynchet,
or field bank.

Source: Historic England