Details

The monument includes the levelled remains of a bowl barrow situated on a
chalk ridge of the South Dorset Downs, overlooking the Bride valley to the
south. The barrow forms part of a cemetery of twelve round barrows, of which
ten survive; the cemetery appears to have developed around a pair of earlier
long mounds situated on the south western part of Black Down.
Part excavations conducted in 1972 by C J Bailey found that the barrow had a
mound composed of flint, with an overall diameter of 8m and a maximum height
of c.0.55m. This was surrounded by a ditch from which material was quarried
during the construction of the monument. The ditch, which had become infilled
with flint material, was found to survive as a buried feature 2m wide and 0.4m
deep. Excavation also identified the presence of a crouched adult inhumation
associated with Early Bronze Age pottery sherds on the old ground surface
underlying the barrow mound.

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

Round barrow cemeteries date to the Bronze Age (c.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, occasionally associated with earlier
long barrows. Where large scale investigation has been undertaken around them,
contemporary or later "flat" burials between the barrow mounds have often been
revealed. Round barrow cemeteries occur across most of lowland Britain, with a
marked concentration in Wessex. In some cases, they are clustered around other
important contemporary monuments such as henges. Often occupying prominent
locations, they are a major historic element in the modern landscape, whilst
their diversity and their longevity as a monument type provide important
information on the variety of beliefs and social organisation amongst early
prehistoric communities. They are particularly representative of their period
and a substantial proportion of surviving or partly-surviving examples are
considered worthy of protection.

Despite reduction by ploughing, the bowl barrow 770m north of Whatcombe House
is known from part excavation to survive and to contain archaeological and
environmental evidence relating to the cemetery and the landscape in which it
was constructed.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Bailey, C J, 'Proc Dorset Nat Hist Arch Soc' in The excavation of three round barrows in Kingston Russell, , Vol. Vol 102, (1980), 26
Bailey, C J, 'Proc Dorset Nat Hist Arch Soc' in The excavation of three round barrows in Kingston Russell, , Vol. Vol 102, (1980), 26
Bailey, C J, 'Proc Dorset Nat Hist Arch Soc' in The excavation of three round barrows in Kingston Russell, , Vol. Vol 102, (1980), 26
Bailey, C J, 'Proc Dorset Nat Hist Arch Soc' in The excavation of three round barrows in Kingston Russell, , Vol. Vol 102, (1980), 26

Source: Historic England