Details

The monument includes two bowl barrows located 680m north of Upper Herdswick
Farm below the downland escarpment of Barbury Down. The barrows are situated
on a low crest and are aligned north to south. The mound of the northern
barrow is 0.7m high and 28m in diameter and the mound of the southern barrow
is 0.5m high and 26m in diameter. Both mounds are surrounded by ditches which
intersect and from which material was quarried during their construction.
These have become infilled over the years and survive as buried features
visible on aerial photographs from which the overall diameter of the northern
barrow can be calculated to be 35m and the overall diameter of the southern
barrow 32m.

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 located 680m north of Upper Herdswick Farm will contain
archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the monument and
the landscape in which it was constructed.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other

Source: Historic England