Details

The monument includes two bowl barrows, aligned broadly north-south, which lie
on a gentle south facing slope at the southern edge of Easton Down.
The southern barrow has a mound 26m in diameter and 0.6m high. Although no
surface indication of the ditch surrounding the mound can be seen, it will
survive as a buried feature c.3m wide.
The northern barrow has a spread mound recorded by the Ordnance Survey in 1970
as being 24m in diameter. It is 0.3m high and traces of a surrounding ditch
can be seen on its SW side. Elsewhere the ditch will survive as a buried
feature c.3m wide.
Excluded from the scheduling is the archaeological site marker which lies
between the barrows, and all fence posts although the ground beneath these
features 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

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.

The bowl barrows 400m west of Easton Down Farm are, despite some erosion,
comparatively well preserved examples of their class and will contain
archaeological remains providing information about Bronze Age beliefs, economy
and environment.

Source: Historic England