Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow located 870m ESE of New Barn on Monkton
Down and immediately north of a linear earthwork which has been interpreted as
being of Bronze Age date. The barrow survives as an earthwork mound 9.1m
across and up to 0.4m high surrounded by a quarry ditch from which material
was obtained during its construction. This has become largely infilled over
the years but survives as an earthwork c.1m wide and up to 0.2m deep.
The barrow was partly excavated by Merewether in 1849 and found to contain a
primary cremation burial. Late Bronze Age and Romano-British pottery sherds
were found on the surface of the mound and further finds of pottery were
made after ploughing in 1978.

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

A small number of areas in southern England appear to have acted as foci for
ceremonial and ritual activity during the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age
periods. Two of the best known and earliest recognised, with references in the
17th century, are around Avebury and Stonehenge, now jointly designated as a
World Heritage Site. In the Avebury area, the henge monument itself, the West
Kennet Avenue, the Sanctuary, West Kennet long barrow, Windmill Hill
causewayed enclosure and the enigmatic Silbury Hill are well-known. Whilst the
other Neolithic long barrows, the many Bronze Age round barrows and other
associated sites are less well-known, together they define one of the richest
and most varied areas of Neolithic and Bronze Age ceremonial monuments in the
country. 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, normally 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 and around 320 in the Avebury area. This group of
monuments will provide important information on the development of this area
during the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age periods. All surviving examples are
considered worthy of protection.

The bowl barrow 870m ESE of New Barn survives as a good example of a small
round barrow. Despite having been partly excavated, the barrow will contain
archaeological and environmental evidence relating to its construction and the
landscape in which it was built.

Source: Historic England