Details

The monument includes a group of four round barrows west of the Fargo Road
ammunition compound, south of the Packway. The group contains a bell barrow
and three disc barrows.
The bell barrow is located on the east side of the group on the western
perimeter of the ammunition compound. The central mound is 2.5m high and 28m
in diameter and is surrounded by a berm 7m wide and a ditch 0.8m deep, from
which material was quarried during the construction of the barrow. The overall
diameter of the barrow is 52m. It was partially excavated in the 19th century.
The three disc barrows are located to the west of the bell barrow. All three
are of similar appearance, surviving as low spread mounds, each surrounded by
a berm or level platform, a ditch and an outer bank.
The disc barrow 20m to the north west of the bell barrow has an overall
diameter of 51m. This barrow was partially excavated in the 19th century.
Further excavation in 1961 revealed a circle of stakeholes surrounding a
grave that had been robbed in antiquity, but which still contained a bronze
awl. The disc barrow west of this has an overall diameter of 64m, while the
third disc barrow, to the south, is 60m across. Both these examples were also
partially excavated in the 19th century, and again in 1961 when a circle of
stakeholes surrounding an empty grave, together with associated finds of
beads, leather and an awl were found in the southern barrow, and a
secondary cremation in the western barrow.
The post and wire fence which crosses the bell barrow on the western side of
its mound and the security fence which crosses the ditch of the bell barrow
on its eastern side 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

A small number of areas in southern England appear to have acted as foci for
ceremonial and ritual activity during the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods.
Two of the best known and the earliest recognised areas are around Avebury and
Stonehenge, now jointly designated as a World Heritage Site.
The area of chalk downland which surrounds Stonehenge contains one of the
densest and most varied groups of Neolithic and Bronze Age field monuments in
Britain. Included within the area are Stonehenge itself, the Stonehenge
cursus, the Durrington Walls henge, and a variety of burial monuments, many
grouped into cemeteries.
The area has been the subject of archaeological research since the 18th
century when Stukeley recorded many of the monuments and partially excavated a
number of the burial mounds. More recently, the collection of artefacts from
the surfaces of ploughed fields has supplemented the evidence for ritual and
burial by revealing the intensity of contemporary settlement and land-use.
In view of the importance of the area, all ceremonial and sepulchral monuments
of this period which retain significant archaeological remains are identified
as nationally important.

Disc barrows and bell barrows, the most visually impressive form of round
barrow, are funerary monuments dating from 1600-1200 BC. They occur either in
isolation or in round barrow cemeteries. Disc barrows were constructed as a
circular or oval area of level ground defined by a bank and internal ditch and
containing one or more central or eccentrically located small, low mounds,
covering burials, usually in pits. The burials are normally cremations and are
frequently accompanied by pottery vessels, tools and personal ornaments. The
bell barrows were constructed as single or multiple mounds covering burials
often in pits and surrounded by an enclosure ditch. The burials in bell
barrows appear to be those of aristocratic individuals and are also frequently
accompanied by weapons, personal ornaments and pottery vessels. Both types of
barrow are rare nationally with only 250 examples of disc barrows known of
which 29 are located within the Stonehenge area and 250 examples of bell
barrow known nationally of which 30 are located within the Stonehenge area.
This group of monuments will provide important information on the development
of this area during the Neolithic and Bronze Age.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, LV, The Victoria History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume V, (1957), 213
Grinsell, LV, The Victoria History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume V, (1957), 221
Grinsell, LV, The Victoria History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume V, (1957), 221
Grinsell, LV, The Victoria History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume V, (1957), 221
Hoare, R C, Ancient History of Wiltshire, (1812), 166
Hoare, R C, Ancient History of Wiltshire, (1812), 166
Hoare, R C, Ancient History of Wiltshire, (1812), 166
Hoare, R C, Ancient History of Wiltshire, (1812), 166
'Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine' in Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine, , Vol. 38, (), 367
'Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine' in Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine, , Vol. 58, (), 241
'Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine' in Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine, , Vol. 58, (), 63-5
'Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine' in Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine, , Vol. 58, (), 65-6
'Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine' in Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine, , Vol. 58, (), 58-63

Source: Historic England