Details

The monument, which falls into two areas, includes two bowl barrows situated
on a ridge overlooking the Bere Valley to the north east and Piddle Valley to
the south west. The barrows are 500m to the north west of the broadly
contemporary round barrow cemetery on Blackhill.
The barrows each have a mound composed of sand, earth and turf, with maximum
dimensions of between 14m-15m in diameter and c.1.1m-c.1.25m in height. The
north western barrow mound is partly overlain on the north eastern side by a
bank and ditch which marks the course of the parish boundary.
Surrounding each mound is a ditch from which material was quarried during the
construction of the monument. The ditches have become infilled over the years,
but each will survive as a buried feature 1.5m 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

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.

Despite some previous disturbance by military vehicles, the two bowl barrows
350m north east of Spring Garden Barn survive 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), 436
Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset: Volume I, (1970), 436

Source: Historic England