Details

The monument, which lies within two areas, includes three bowl barrows located
on the top of a hill in Avon Heath Country Park north west of Matcham's House.
The easternmost barrow has a mound 19m in diameter and 1.2m high, partly
truncated on its southern side by an old quarry. Immediately to the south west
of this barrow is a second barrow which has a mound, approximately 15m in
diameter and 1.2m high. A third mound 80m to the WSW was previously identified
as a barrow and is now visible as an irregular mound, approximately 26m long
by 18m wide and 2.5m high, orientated north east-south west. Surrounding each
mound is a quarry ditch from which material was excavated during its
construction. These have become infilled over the years but survive as buried
features up to approximately 3m 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 three bowl barrows in Avon Heath Country Park north west of Matcham's
House are comparatively well preserved examples of their class and will
contain archaeological remains providing information about Bronze Age burial
practices, economy and environment.

Source: Historic England