Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow surviving as a low earthwork in an area of
undulating chalk downland. The barrow mound was recorded as being 16m across
and 1.2m high in 1955 and is now 12m across and 0.2m high. Surrounding the
mound though no longer visible at ground level, are the buried remains of a 2m
wide quarry ditch from which material was taken during the monument's
construction.
The site may have been that excavated by H Cunnington in 1879 although no
details are known. Middle Bronze Age pottery has been found on the surface of
the mound.

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 375m east of Wick Bottom Barn has been reduced by cultivation
over the years but will retain evidence for its construction and use.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Passmore, A D, 'Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine' in Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine, , Vol. 42, (1922), 56

Source: Historic England