Details

This monument is part of a round barrow cemetery and includes a cluster of
seven bowl barrows situated on lowland heath overlooking Backley Bottom. The
individual barrows can be described as follows:

(SU 21870873) The barrow mound measures 5.5m in diameter and stands up to
0.4m high. A hollow in the centre of the mound suggests previous robbing or
partial excavation. Although no longer visible at ground level, a ditch, from
which material was quarried during the construction of the barrow, surrounds
the mound. This has become infilled over the years but survives as a buried
feature c.1m wide.

(SU 21830873) The barrow mound measures 5.5m in diameter and 0.25m high.
Surrounding the mound is a quarry ditch which has become partly infilled over
the years, but survives on the west side as a slight earthwork 1.5m wide and
0.2m deep and as a buried feature elsewhere.

(SU 21840872) The barrow mound measures 5m in diameter and 0.3m high. The
quarry ditch survives as a buried feature c.1m wide.

(SU 21850870) The barrow mound measures 5m in diameter and 0.25m high. The
quarry ditch has become partly infilled, but survives on the east side as a
slight earthwork 1m wide and 0.25m deep and as a buried feature elsewhere.

(SU 21850869) The barrow mound measures 5m in diameter and 0.2m high. The
quarry ditch survives as a buried feature c.1m wide.

(SU 21860864) The barrow mound measures 7m in diameter and 0.3m high. A
slight hollow in the centre of the mound suggests previous excavation. The
quarry ditch has become partly infilled, but survives around the southern edge
as a slight hollow and elsewhere as a buried feature c.1m wide.

(SU 21860870) The barrow mound measures 7m in diameter and 0.25m high. The
surrounding ditch survives as a buried feature c.1m wide.

The area between the mounds may contain flat graves, cremation burials and
traces of early occupation.

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

Round barrow cemeteries date to the Bronze Age (c.2000-700 BC). They comprise
closely-spaced groups of up to 30 round barrows - rubble or earthen mounds
covering single or multiple burials. Most cemeteries developed over a
considerable period of time, often many centuries, and in some cases acted as
a focus for burials as late as the early medieval period. They exhibit
considerable diversity of burial rite, plan and form, frequently including
several different types of round barrow, occasionally associated with earlier
long barrows. Where large scale investigation has been undertaken around them,
contemporary or later "flat" burials between the barrow mounds have often been
revealed. Round barrow cemeteries occur across most of lowland Britain, with a
marked concentration in Wessex. In some cases, they are clustered around other
important contemporary monuments such as henges. Often occupying prominent
locations, they are a major historic element in the modern landscape, whilst
their diversity and their longevity as a monument type provide important
information on the variety of beliefs and social organisation amongst early
prehistoric communities. They are particularly representative of their period
and a substantial proportion of surviving or partly-surviving examples are
considered worthy of protection.

The Bratley Plain round barrow cemetery contains a significantly large number
of small undisturbed barrows. The survival of so many small barrows within a
cemetery is a particularly uncommon phenomenon in southern England. Although
some of the larger mounds have been partially disturbed, all the barrows
retain undisturbed remains and the cemetery as a whole has considerable
archaeological potential. The New Forest region is known to have been
important in terms of lowland Bronze Age occupation and a considerable amount
of archaeological evidence has survived because of a lack of agricultural
activity, the result of later climatic deterioration, development of heath and
the establishment of a Royal Forest.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, L V, 'Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club' in Hampshire Barrows, , Vol. 14, (1938)

Source: Historic England