Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow on the mid-slope of a west facing
hillside, on the central upper chalk ridge of the Isle of Wight. The barrow
forms part of a wider cemetery on Ashey Down which includes 19 barrows.
The barrow is difficult to identify on the ground, but was recorded in 1940
as having a mound which measured 17 paces in diameter and 2 feet high.
Surrounding the mound is a ditch from which material was quarried during its
construction. This ditch has become infilled over the years and can no longer
be seen at ground level. It does, however, survive as a buried feature c.2m
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

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.

Despite having been levelled by cultivating, the bowl barrow 280m WNW of the
sea mark is integral to the Ashey Down cemetery and will contain
archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the cemetery and
the landscape in which it was constructed. The old ground surface and the
surrounding quarry ditch, from which material was quarried during construction
of the monument, will survive as buried features.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Drewett, P L, 'Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club' in Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club, , Vol. 27, (1970), 55-56
Grinsell, , Sherwin, , 'Proceedings of the I.O.W. Nat History and Archaeological Soc' in Procedings of the I.O.W. Nat History and Archaeological Soc, , Vol. 3, (1940), 207-208

Source: Historic England