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Bowl barrow in High Park on south facing slope of Fonthill Down

A Scheduled Monument in Fonthill Bishop, Wiltshire

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Coordinates

Latitude: 51.1168 / 51°7'0"N

Longitude: -2.0904 / 2°5'25"W

OS Eastings: 393764.648607

OS Northings: 135285.562717

OS Grid: ST937352

Mapcode National: GBR 2XM.SDC

Mapcode Global: VH983.Q675

Entry Name: Bowl barrow in High Park on south facing slope of Fonthill Down

Scheduled Date: 30 November 1955

Last Amended: 23 February 1998

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1017703

English Heritage Legacy ID: 26831

County: Wiltshire

Civil Parish: Fonthill Bishop

Traditional County: Wiltshire

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): Wiltshire

Church of England Parish: Fonthill Bishop with Berwick St Leonard All Saints

Church of England Diocese: Salisbury

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow, lying on the south facing slope of
Fonthill Down in an area of woodland known as High Park.
The barrow has a mound 17m in diameter and 1.3m high which exhibits signs of
slight surface disturbance, most obviously on its eastern side. Surrounding
the mound is a ditch from which material for its construction was quarried.
This is no longer visible on the surface but will survive as a buried feature
3m 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 bowl barrow in High Park is a well preserved example of its class which
will contain archaeological remains providing information about Bronze Age
beliefs, economy and environment.

Source: Historic England

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