Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow on Okeford Hill, 760m ESE of Hartcliff
Farm, on a narrow spur sloping northwards from the chalk escarpment.
The barrow has a mound which is now 18m east-west by 14m north-south and a
maximum of 1m high. Surrounding the mound is a quarry ditch from which
material was excavated during its construction. This has become infilled over
the years but survives as a buried feature 3m wide. There is a slight
depression on the north west side of the mound which is c.2.5m long and 1.5m
wide which may represent a previous unrecorded excavation.

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 barrow on Okeford Hill, 760m ESE of Hartcliff Farm is a well
preserved example of its class and its buried deposits will include
archaeological remains containing information about Bronze Age burial
practices, economy and environment.

Source: Historic England