Ancient Monuments

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Bowl barrow on King's Play Hill, 420m north of Hill Cottage

A Scheduled Monument in Heddington, Wiltshire

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Coordinates

Latitude: 51.393 / 51°23'34"N

Longitude: -1.9876 / 1°59'15"W

OS Eastings: 400961.643359

OS Northings: 166000.056281

OS Grid: SU009660

Mapcode National: GBR 2TG.NB0

Mapcode Global: VHB48.H7MY

Entry Name: Bowl barrow on King's Play Hill, 420m north of Hill Cottage

Scheduled Date: 20 August 1924

Last Amended: 8 April 1997

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1013361

English Heritage Legacy ID: 12328

County: Wiltshire

Civil Parish: Heddington

Traditional County: Wiltshire

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): Wiltshire

Church of England Parish: Heddington St Andrew

Church of England Diocese: Salisbury

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow set on a prominent hill-top in an area of
undulating chalk downland. The barrow mound is 15m in diameter and 1.5m high.
Although no longer visible at ground level a ditch, from which material was
quarried during construction of the monument, surrounds the mound. This has
become infilled over the years but survives 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

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.

This barrow, one of a pair on the crest of King's Play Hill, 420m north of
Hill Cottage, survives comparatively well and will retain archaeological
evidence for the monument and the landscape in which it was constructed.

Source: Historic England

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