Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow situated on a chalk ridge of the South
Dorset Downs overlooking the Bride valley to the south and the South
Winterbourne valley to the north. The barrow forms part of a cemetery
containing 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.
The barrow has a mound composed of earth, chalk and flint with a maximum
diameter of 21m and a maximum height of c.1.2m. The mound is surmounted by a
large block of conglomerate stone, with dimensions of 2.2m by 1m and a maximum
height of c.0.5m. This stone may relate to an inner stone chamber within the
barrow. Surrounding the mound is a ditch from which material was quarried
during the construction of the monument. This has become infilled over the
years, but will survive 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

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.

The bowl barrow 810m NNE of Whatcombe House survives well and will
contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to the cemetery and
the landscape in which it was constructed. This bowl barrow is unusual in
that it has the remains of a stone chamber or cap-stone visible on top of the
mound.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
An Inventory of the Historical Monuments of Dorset: Volume 1 , (1952), 128

Source: Historic England