Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow situated on a ridge overlooking the Bere
valley to the south. The bowl barrow forms part of a wider group of 11 which,
together, form a round barrow cemetery on Roke Down. The barrow has a mound
composed of earth, flint and chalk, with maximum dimensions of 18m diameter
and 0.5m in height. This is surrounded by a ditch from which material was
quarried during the construction of the monument. The ditch has become
infilled over the years, but it will survive as a buried feature about 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.

Bowl barrows are the most numerous form of round barrow, with over 10,000
examples recorded nationally. They were constructed as earthen or rubble
mounds each covering single or multiple burials.
Despite some reduction by ploughing, the bowl barrow 790m north east of
Haywards Farm survives comparatively well and will contain archaeological and
environmental evidence relating to the monument and the landscape in which it
was constructed.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset: Volume I, (1970), 437

Source: Historic England