Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow set above the floor of a dry
valley immediately north of Bishops Cannings Down. The barrow mound
stands to a height of 0.5m and is 25m in diameter. It is visible both
as an earthwork and an area of lighter coloured soil. Although no
longer visible on the ground, the barrow is surrounded by a ditch from
which the mound material was quarried. This has become infilled over
the years but survives as a buried feature c.3m 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

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 damage due to cultivation, much of the Baltic Farm bowl
barrow, particularly ditch deposits and the buried land surface,
remains intact and, with no evidence for excavation, the barrow has
significant archaeological potential. The presence of numerous other
barrows and additional evidence for contemporary settlement in the
area of Bishop's Cannings Down provide a clear indication of the
intensity with which the area was settled during the Bronze Age,
further enhancing the importance of the monument.

Source: Historic England