Details

The monument includes two bowl barrows, the most northerly of a group of at
least eight round barrows which straddles a shallow coombe south of Hampshire
Gap. The barrows, the line of which is orientated north west-south east, lie
on a gentle south west facing slope.
The larger, most southerly barrow has a mound 26m in diameter and 0.7m high.
Surrounding the mound and visible on its north side is a ditch 3m wide which,
where not visible on the surface, will survive as a buried feature.
The second barrow has a mound 22m in diameter and 0.4m high, in the centre of
which are traces of disturbance, possibly resulting from antiquarian
excavation carried out by William Cunnington in the early 19th century. Traces
of a ditch surrounding the mound are visible on its north side, and elsewhere
will survive as a buried feature c.3m wide.
Excluded from the scheduling are all archaeological site markers, although the
ground beneath them is included.

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

Since 1916 the Porton Down Range has been used for military purposes. As on
the Salisbury Plain Training Area, this has meant that it has not been subject
to the intensive arable farming seen elsewhere on the Wessex chalk. Porton, as
a result, is one of very few surviving areas of uncultivated chalk downland in
England and contains a range of well-preserved archaeological sites, many of
Neolithic or Bronze Age date. These include long barrows and round barrows,
flint mines, and evidence for settlement, land division and agriculture.
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 organisation amongst early
prehistoric communities. They are particularly representative of their period
and a substantial proportion of surviving examples are considered worthy of
protection.

The two bowl barrows 380m north east of Straight Walk Plantation, although not
within the area of uncultivated downland, are comparatively well preserved
examples of their class. Despite some erosion caused by cultivation, they
still exhibit a largely original profile and will contain archaeological
remains providing information about Bronze Age beliefs, economy and
environment.

Source: Historic England