Details

The monument includes two saucer barrows and a pair of bowl barrows, situated
750m SSW of Beckhampton Plantation. The group forms part of a Bronze Age
round barrow cemetery running along the contour of the north facing slope of
Horton Down. The remaining barrow in the cemetery is an outlier c.200m to the
south west.
From east to west the individual barrows within this monument can be described
as follows:
A bowl barrow, the mound of which measures 18m across and stands up to 1m
high.
A saucer barrow which has been reduced by cultivation but which includes a low
mound 8m across standing up to 0.2m high.
A saucer barrow which includes a low mound c.8m across and standing up to 0.2m
high.
A bowl barrow, the mound of which has been spread almost flat across its base
and the surrounding quarry ditch so that it is no longer visible at ground
level. When previously recorded, the mound measured c.18m across and would
have stood between 1m and 2m high.
The barrow mounds have been reduced by cultivation and the ditches, c.2.5m-
3.5m, which surround the mounds, from which material would have been quarried
during their construction, have been infilled but survive below modern
ploughsoil. The two saucer barrows were further surrounded by
low banks c.3.5m wide and previously recorded as surviving to a height of at
least 0.3m.

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

A small number of areas in southern England appear to have acted as foci for
ceremonial and ritual activity during the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age
periods. Two of the best known and earliest recognised, with references in the
17th century, are around Avebury and Stonehenge, now jointly designated as a
World Heritage Site. In the Avebury area, the henge monument itself, the West
Kennet Avenue, the Sanctuary, West Kennet long barrow, Windmill Hill
causewayed enclosure and the enigmatic Silbury Hill are well-known. Whilst the
other Neolithic long barrows, the many Bronze Age round barrows and other
associated sites are less well-known, together they define one of the richest
and most varied areas of Neolithic and Bronze Age ceremonial and ritual
monuments in the country. Round barrow cemeteries date to the Bronze Age
(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 and occasionally associated
with earlier long barrows. Where investigation beyond the round barrows has
occurred, contemporary or later `flat' burials between the barrow mounds have
often been revealed. Round barrow cemeteries occur across most of lowland
England with a marked concentration in Wessex. In some cases they are
clustered around other important contemporary monuments, as is the case both
here and at Stonehenge. Often occupying prominent locations, they are a major
historic element in the modern landscape, while their diversity and their
longevity as a monument type provide important information on the variety of
beliefs and social organisation amongst early prehistoric communities. All
examples are considered worthy of protection.

The round barrow cemetery SSW of Beckhampton Plantation on Horton Down
includes both bowl and saucer barrows dating from the Bronze Age. It is
situated in an area of important funerary activity relating to the ritual
complex centred on Avebury.
Despite three of the four barrows within this monument having been reduced by
cultivation, they have not been excavated and will contain archaeological
remains relating to their construction and the landscape in which they were
built.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, L V, 'A History Of The Counties Of England' in Gazeteer, , Vol. 1,1, (1957), 223
Grinsell, L V, 'A History Of WIltshire' in Gazeteer, , Vol. 1,1, (1957), 223
Grinsell, L V, 'A History Of The Counties Of WIltshire' in Gazeteer, , Vol. 1,1, (1957), 158
Grinsell, L V, 'A History Of WIltshire' in Gazeteer, , Vol. 1,1, (1957), 159
Other
FMW report AM 107, Williams, S., Group of four round barrows on Horton Down, (1986)
FMW report AM 107, Williams, S., Group of four round barrows on Horton Down, (1986)
SU 06 NE 719, CAO, Possible Round Barrow, (1979)
SU06NE710, C.A.O., BOWL BARROW, (1979)
Title: Ordnance Survey 1st Edition
Source Date: 1880
Author:
Publisher:
Surveyor:
1st Edition 6" Series
Title: Ordnance Survey 1st Edition
Source Date: 1880
Author:
Publisher:
Surveyor:
6" Series
Title: Ordnance Survey 6"
Source Date: 1926
Author:
Publisher:
Surveyor:
6" series

Source: Historic England