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Bowl barrow situated 500m SSW of Shepherds' Shore

A Scheduled Monument in Bishops Cannings, Wiltshire

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Coordinates

Latitude: 51.3908 / 51°23'26"N

Longitude: -1.938 / 1°56'16"W

OS Eastings: 404412.717374

OS Northings: 165749.492414

OS Grid: SU044657

Mapcode National: GBR 3VV.NW8

Mapcode Global: VHB49.C9BP

Entry Name: Bowl barrow situated 500m SSW of Shepherds' Shore

Scheduled Date: 15 December 1995

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1013756

English Heritage Legacy ID: 21883

County: Wiltshire

Civil Parish: Bishops Cannings

Traditional County: Wiltshire

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): Wiltshire

Church of England Parish: Bishop's Cannings and Etchilhampton St Mary the Virgin

Church of England Diocese: Salisbury

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow, situated 500m SSW of Shepherds' Shore
on North Down.
The barrow has a mound which has been reduced by cultivation but survives as a
spread of chalk and flint 34m north-south and 27m east-west. It stands up to
0.2m high.
Originally, the mound is known to have measured c.30m in diameter and stood up
to 1m high. Surrounding the original extent of the mound is a 2m wide quarry
ditch from which material was obtained during its construction. This survives
as a buried feature below the spread of mound material.

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 monuments in the
country. 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, normally 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 and around 320 in the Avebury area. This group of
monuments will provide important information on the development of this area
during the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age periods. All surviving examples are
considered worthy of protection.

Despite having been reduced by cultivation, the bowl barrow 500m SSW of
Shepherds' Shore survives as an earthwork and will contain archaeological and
environmental evidence relating to its construction and the landscape in which
it was built.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
SU 06 NW 009, R.C.H.M.(E), Round Barrow, (1982)
SU 06 NW 619, C.A.O., Round Barrow, (1983)
Title: Ordnance Survey 1:10000 Series
Source Date: 1982
Author:
Publisher:
Surveyor:
SU 06 NW

Source: Historic England

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