Ancient Monuments

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Bowl barrow 450m north of Cross Droves

A Scheduled Monument in Buttermere, Wiltshire

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Coordinates

Latitude: 51.3387 / 51°20'19"N

Longitude: -1.5433 / 1°32'35"W

OS Eastings: 431909.126138

OS Northings: 160051.350398

OS Grid: SU319600

Mapcode National: GBR 714.0MT

Mapcode Global: VHC25.6MG4

Entry Name: Bowl barrow 450m north of Cross Droves

Scheduled Date: 14 July 1955

Last Amended: 11 July 1991

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1012274

English Heritage Legacy ID: 12253

County: Wiltshire

Civil Parish: Buttermere

Traditional County: Berkshire

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): Wiltshire

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow set below the crest of a gentle south-
west facing slope in an area of undulating chalk downland. The barrow mound
survives as a low earthwork 0.5m high and 30m in diameter. Although no
longer visible at ground level a ditch, from which material was quarried
during the construction of the monument, surrounds the mound. This has
filled in over the years and now survives as a buried feature c.3m wide.

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.

Despite the damage caused to the monument by erosion, important elements of
the Droves barrow remain intact and it has potential for the recovery of
archaeological evidence for the nature and duration of the use of the
monument and the environment within which it was constructed. The
significance of the monument is enhanced by the fact that numerous other
round barrows survive in the area as well as additional evidence for
contemporary settlement. This illustrates the intensity with which the area
was settled during the Bronze Age period.

Source: Historic England

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