Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow situated 880m north east of Field Barn
Farm on a gentle west facing slope near the top of Cow Down, a chalk
promontory commanding views to the east over the upper reaches of the Wylye
valley. The barrow includes a circular flat topped mound 10m in diameter and
1.6m high surrounded by a quarry ditch 4.4m wide and up to 1m deep. This is
surrounded by an external bank 4.6m wide and up to 1.5m high apart from on the
northern edge where it has been levelled by cultivation.
A disturbed area in the centre of the mound is interpreted as an early attempt
to excavate the barrow.
Another barrow, 500m to the SSE, is the subject of a separate scheduling.

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 bowl barrow 880m north east of Field Barn Farm survives well and is
unusual in having an external bank. It will contain archaeological and
environmental evidence relating to the monument and the landscape in which it
was built.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, L V, The Victoria History of the County of Wiltshire, (1957), 205

Source: Historic England