Ancient Monuments

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Windmill Barrow, a bowl barrow 40m south west of Windmill Barrow Farm

A Scheduled Monument in Lytchett Matravers, Dorset

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Coordinates

Latitude: 50.7792 / 50°46'45"N

Longitude: -2.0905 / 2°5'25"W

OS Eastings: 393717.591848

OS Northings: 97741.269

OS Grid: SY937977

Mapcode National: GBR 31W.0B7

Mapcode Global: FRA 67H1.5D7

Entry Name: Windmill Barrow, a bowl barrow 40m south west of Windmill Barrow Farm

Scheduled Date: 3 August 1961

Last Amended: 5 March 1997

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1016073

English Heritage Legacy ID: 28370

County: Dorset

Civil Parish: Lytchett Matravers

Traditional County: Dorset

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): Dorset

Church of England Parish: Almer and Charborough St Mary

Church of England Diocese: Salisbury

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow situated on a ridge overlooking the
Winterborne Valley to the north.
The barrow has a mound composed of earth, sand and turf, with maximum
dimensions of 30m in diameter and c.1.8m in height. The mound is surrounded by
a ditch from which material was quarried during the construction of the
monument. The ditch has become infilled over the years, but will survive as a
buried feature c.3m wide.
The barrow is likely to have later been reused as a windmill mound in the
post-medieval period, after which it is named. An embankment, which is up to
0.5m high, encircles the top of the mound and is likely to have been
associated with the windmill.
Excluded from the scheduling are all fence posts relating to the modern field
boundaries, along with the galvanised structures to the north of the mound,
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 Windmill Barrow survives well and will contain archaeological and
environmental evidence relating to the monument, its later reuse as a
Windmill and the contemporary landscape.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, L V, 'Procs Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Soc.' in Dorset Barrows, (1959), 121
Other
Interpretation as a bowl barrow, RCHME, National Monuments Record,
Leech, P, Ancient Monuments Record Form,
Mention bank on windmill mound, RCHME, National Monuments Record,
Mention no sign of a quarry ditch, RCHME, National Monuments Record,
Mention re-use as windmill mound, RCHME, National Monuments Record,
No sign of windmill foundations, RCHME, National Monuments Record,

Source: Historic England

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