Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow 300m north of White Farm and situated at
the top of a gentle east facing slope on the edge of Lamb Down, a chalk
promontory on the southern edge of Salisbury Plain commanding extensive views
over the Wylye Valley.
The mound of the barrow is up to 0.3m high and 18m across. It was built from
and situated over a localised outcrop of Middle Chalk.
Partial excavation in 1958 revealed that it is a scraped up barrow; in other
words it was built without the excavation of a quarry ditch. A pit 1.2m wide
in the centre of the mound was interpreted as a robbing hole and a burnt
surface to the south east of this with fragments of cremated bone was
interpreted as the site of a cremation. A kidney shaped pit containing the
bones of a horse and two dogs which cut the robbing pit was interpreted as a
recent intrusion. One fragment of Bronze Age pottery as well as Romano British
pottery, a bronze pendant and three iron studs were found in the mound and the
chalk below.

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 being spread by ploughing, the bowl barrow 300m north of White Farm
will contain further archaeological and environmental evidence relating
to the monument and the landscape in which it was constructed. Partial
excavation has revealed several phases of use indicating the significance of
the monument over many centuries.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Colt Hoare, R, The Ancient History of Wiltshire: Volume I, (1812), 81
Vatcher, F, 'Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine' in The Excavation of the Barrows on Lamb Down: Codford St Mary, , Vol. 58, (1963), 417-441

Source: Historic England