Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow set on the floor of a dry valley in an
area of undulating chalk downland. The barrow mound survives as an earthwork
1m high and 25m in diameter. Although no longer visible at ground level a
ditch, from which material was quarried during construction of the monument,
surrounds the mound. This has filled in over the years and now survives as a
buried feature c.3m wide.
The monument forms part of the Seven Barrows cemetery, the core of which lies
to the north and west.

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. Their ubiquity and their tendency to occupy
prominent locations makes them 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 Postdown Farm barrow is important as it survives comparatively well
under cultivation and has potential for the recovery of archaeological
remains. The significance of the barrow is considerably enhanced by its
inclusion within the `Seven Barrows' cemetery. Barrow cemeteries give an
indication of the intensity with which areas were settled during prehistory
and provide evidence for the range of beliefs and nature of social
organisation during the Bronze Age. The Seven Barrows cemetery is a fine
example of its class containing a wide range of barrow types.

Source: Historic England