Details

The monument includes two Bronze Age bowl barrows located in Brown Down Wood
on the eastern edge of the Blackdown Hills.
The barrrows are aligned from east to west. The mound of the easternmost
barrow is 10m in diameter and approximately 1.2m high. The mound of the barrow
located 10m to its west is slightly elongated in shape with a maximum
diameter of 12m and it is approximately 1m high.
Ditches will surround the mounds, from which material was quarried during
their construction. These have become infilled over the years but will survive
as buried features approximately 2m wide.

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 190m east of Brown Down Lodge survive comparatively
well despite the mound of the westernmost barrow having been disturbed by
afforestation. Both will contain archaeological deposits and environmental
evidence. A survey of the Blackdown Hills completed in 1992, recorded some 50
barrows and cairns which together will provide a detailed insight into
settlement of the area in the Late Neolithic to Late Bronze Age period.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, L V, 'Proceedings of Somerset Archaelogical & Natural History Society' in Somerset Barrows, (1969), 37
Grinsell, L V, 'Proceedings of Somerset Archaelogical & Natural History Society' in Somerset Barrows, (1969), 37

Source: Historic England