Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow of Late Neolithic or Bronze Age date,
prominently situated at the heel of a high, south east facing spur at the
northern end of Ibsley Common. At least 15 further round barrows are widely
spaced across the common, a high gravel plateau covering an area of
approximately 240ha. All are situated near the sharp upper edges of the
plateau or on subsidiary spurs, and are the subject of separate schedulings.
The monument includes a low, flat topped, circular mound, 12m in diameter and
approximately 0.75m high. Rabbit scrapes on the top of the mound indicate that
it was constructed of compacted gravel. There is no visible trace of a
surrounding ditch although a shallow quarry ditch can be expected to survive
as a buried feature from which material was obtained for the construction of
the mound. Excavations of six other barrows on Ibsley Common in 1917 and 1921
revealed such ditches encircling mounds constructed of layers of compacted
clay, sand and gravel flints. The excavations indicated oval or rectangular
voids for inhumation burials at the centres of two of the mounds and Bronze
Age funerary urns filled with burnt human bone and other material at the
centres of three others. The urns and other materials recovered from these
excavations are now held at the Salisbury Museum.

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 round barrow on Ibsley Common, 670m east of Gorley Vale Farm, survives
comparatively well despite some later disturbance caused by a modern bridleway
and footpath. It forms part of a widely spaced group of at least 15 round
barrows situated on Ibsley Common. Part excavation of six of these barrows has
demonstrated that they retain important archaeological remains and retain
environmental evidence relating to each barrow and the landscape in which it
was constructed.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, L V, 'Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club' in Hampshire Barrows, , Vol. 14, (1938), 359

Source: Historic England