Details

The monument, which lies within two areas, includes two bowl arrows situated
on prominent knolls on Sopley Common. The western bowl barrow has a mound, 20m
in diameter and up to 1m high, which has been partly truncated on its north
west side when a fire break was cleared. Seventy flint artefacts of Mesolithic
date were found at the site in 1904-5 indicating that the barrow is built
partly on top of a habitation site of that date. The eastern barrow has a
flat-topped mound which has been partly disturbed by a wartime structure,
which has now been demolished, leaving the centre and western half intact. It
is 16m in diameter and 1.2m high. Fragments of sarsen are visible in the mound
on the north eastern and western sides. Both mounds are surrounded by quarry
ditches excavated during their construction. These have become infilled over
the years but will survive as buried features approximately 2m wide.
All fence posts are excluded from the scheduling although the ground beneath
these features 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

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 two bowl barrows on Sopley Common are part of a dispersed group of barrows
on the heathland in this area and will contain archaeological remains
providing information about Bronze Age burial practices, economy and
environment.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Aitken, P, The Archaeology of Sopley Common, (1976), 3
'Proceedings of the Hants Field Club and Arch Soc' in The Mesolithic Industries of Mother Siller's Channel, Christch.., , Vol. 27, (1970), 25

Source: Historic England