Details

The monument includes three bowl barrows situated on a west-facing slope
overlooking the Bere Valley. The barrows form part of a wider group of five
which together form a round barrow cemetery.
The three bowl barrows, which are arrange in an arc, include the example known
as Bolton's Barrow at the north east of the group. The barrows each have a
mound composed of earth, flint and chalk with maximum dimensions of between
30m-32m in diameter and between c.0.35m-c.0.6m in height. Each mound is
surrounded by a ditch from which material was quarried during the construction
of the monument. The ditches have become infilled over the years, but are
known from aerial photographic evidence to survive as buried features c.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.

Despite some reduction by ploughing, the three bowl barrows 515m south east
of East Field Farm survive as upstanding earthworks and will 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
Reference the barrow group,
Reference the barrow,
Title: Ordnance Survey 1:2500 Series
Source Date: 1954
Author:
Publisher:
Surveyor:
Mapped depiction

Source: Historic England