Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow situated on the south facing slope of Bere
Down, overlooking the Bere Valley to the west. The barrow forms part of a
wider group of seven which together form a round barrow cemetery on Bere
Down.
The barrow, which is referred to as the `Hawke Barrow' on Isaac Taylor's 1777
map of the area, has a mound composed of earth, flint and chalk with maximum
dimensions of 22m in diameter and c.1.5m in height. The mound is known to be
surrounded by a ditch from which material was quarried during the construction
of the monument. The ditch has become infilled over the years, but survives as
a buried feature c.2m wide.
The mound was part excavated during the 19th century, when a collared urn now
held in the Dorset County Museum was recovered. A small sherd of Bronze Age
pottery was also discovered within the area of the barrow during the 1950s.
The barrow is situated close to a field bank of uncertain date.
Excluded from the scheduling are all fence posts relating to the modern field
boundary, although the underlying ground 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

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 320m east of Bere Down Farm survives well and is known from
part excavation to contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating
to the cemetery 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
Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset: Volume I, (1970), 437
Other
Mention find of Bronze Age pottery,
Mention name 'Hawks Barrow', Taylor, Isaac, (1777)
Title: Ordnance Survey 1:2500 Series
Source Date: 1902
Author:
Publisher:
Surveyor:
Mapped depiction

Source: Historic England