Details

This monument includes a bowl barrow situated on a gentle east-facing slope
overlooking Holbury village. The barrow mound measures 19m in diameter and
stands up to 2.6m high. A slight hollow in the centre of the mound suggests
previous robbing or partial excavation. Surrounding the mound is a ditch from
which material was quarried during the construction of the barrow. This has
become partly infilled over the years but survives as an earthwork 3.5m wide
and 0.3m deep.
This barrow is part of the Beaulieu Heath round barrow cemetery.
The barbed wire fence and supporting posts which cross the site from east to
west are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath these
features is included.

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

Round barrow cemeteries date to the Bronze Age (c.2000-700 BC). They comprise
closely-spaced groups of up to 30 round barrows - rubble or earthen mounds
covering single or multiple burials. Most cemeteries developed over a
considerable period of time, often many centuries, and in some cases acted as
a focus for burials as late as the early medieval period. They exhibit
considerable diversity of burial rite, plan and form, frequently including
several different types of round barrow, occasionally associated with earlier
long barrows. Where large scale investigation has been undertaken around them,
contemporary or later "flat" burials between the barrow mounds have often been
revealed. Round barrow cemeteries occur across most of lowland Britain, with a
marked concentration in Wessex. In some cases, they are clustered around other
important contemporary monuments such as henges. Often occupying prominent
locations, they are a major historic element in the modern landscape, whilst
their diversity and their longevity as a monument type provide important
information on the variety of beliefs and social organisation amongst early
prehistoric communities. They are particularly representative of their period
and a substantial proportion of surviving or partly-surviving examples are
considered worthy of protection.

The Beaulieu Heath round barrow cemetery contains a variety of barrow types.
Although some of the barrow mounds have been reduced in size or partially
disturbed, all of the barrows retain undisturbed remains and the cemetery as a
whole has considerable archaeological potential. The New Forest region is
known to have been important in terms of lowland Bronze Age occupation and a
considerable amount of archaeological evidence has survived because of a lack
of agricultural activity, the result of later climatic deterioration and the
establishment of a Royal Forest.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, L V, 'Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club' in Hampshire Barrows, , Vol. 14, (1938), 361

Source: Historic England