Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow and associated small mound situated on a
low ridge orientated east to west and overlooking Woodfidley Passage. The
barrow mound measures 16m in diameter and stands up to 1m high. The western
side of the barrow mound has seen limited disturbance as a result of earth
moving. Although no longer visible at ground level, a ditch, from which
material was quarried during the construction of the monument, surrounds the
barrow mound. This has become infilled over the years but survives as a
buried feature c.2m wide. Adjacent to the barrow on its east side is a low
mound measuring 3.8m long, 3.4m wide and 0.3m high, possibly representing an
additional barrow mound.

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 some recent disturbance the bowl barrow at Woodfidley Passage survives
comparatively well within the New Forest, an area known to have been important
in terms of lowland Bronze Age occupation. A considerable amount of
archaeological evidence has survived in this area 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

Other
Darvill, T, Monument Class Description - Bowl barrows, 1988,
Hampshire County Planning Department, SU 30 NW 10,

Source: Historic England