Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow set on the crest of a hill in an area of
undulating chalk downland. The barrow mound is 2.5m high and l9m in
diameter. Surrounding the barrow mound is a ditch from which material was
quarried during construction of the monument. This is no longer visible at
ground level, having been infilled over the years, but survives as a buried
feature c.3m wide. The mound and ditch together have a diameter of 25m.

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 Heath Copse bowl barrow exhibits good survival with no evidence for
earlier excavation. As the monument remains intact it has potential for the
recovery of archaeological evidence for the nature and duration of use of
the monument and the environment within which it was constructed. The
significance of the site 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