Details

The monument includes a large bell barrow surviving in a private garden 250m
north-west of Larkwhistle Farm. The monument has a maximum diameter of 60m.
The central mound is 25m across and survives to a height of 2.5m. This is
surrounded by a berm c.5m wide, a bank c.5m wide and 0.5m high and a wide
shallow ditch 8m across and up to 0.4m deep. The ditch, from which mound
material was quarried, is visible as an earthwork on all but the north-west
side of the monument where it survives as a buried feature.
The barrow is situated 600m north-west of a linear barrow cemetery on Brimpton
Common.

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

Bell barrows, the most visually impressive form of round barrow, are funerary
monuments dating to the Early and Middle Bronze Age, with most examples
belonging to the period 1500-1100 BC. They occur either in isolation or in
round barrow cemeteries and were constructed as single or multiple mounds
covering burials, often in pits, and surrounded by an enclosure ditch. The
burials are frequently accompanied by weapons, personal ornaments and pottery
and appear to be those of aristocratic individuals, usually men. Bell barrows
(particularly multiple barrows) are rare nationally, with less than 250 known
examples, most of which are in Wessex. Their richness in terms of grave goods
provides evidence for chronological and cultural links amongst early
prehistoric communities over most of southern and eastern England as well as
providing an insight into their beliefs and social organisation. As a
particularly rare form of round barrow, all identified bell barrows would
normally be considered to be of national importance.

The Larkwhistle Farm bell barrow is particularly important as it survives well
and appears as an outlier to a wider barrow cemetery 600m to the south-east.
Such cemeteries give a clear indication of the intensity with which areas were
settled during the Bronze Age period. With no evidence of formal excavation,
the site also has considerable archaeological potential.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
Berkshire SMR,

Source: Historic England