Details

The monument includes two Bronze Age bell barrows within two areas of
protection 520m and 550m north of Lower Chance Farm, situated on the valley
floor and overlooked by four other barrows (the subject of separate
schedulings) some 600m to the north west. The barrows are known locally and in
early archaeological publications as `The Warrior Mounds' or `The Warrior
Barrows'.
Both barrows form part of a large dispersed round barrow cemetery which
originally consisted of at least 15 individual barrows.
The barrow mounds both survive as upstanding stone and earth mounds measuring
approximately 23m in diameter and standing up to 2.5m high. The mounds were
originally surrounded by gently sloping berms approximately 5m wide which have
been obscured by later ploughing. Beyond the berm edges lie quarry ditches
from which material was obtained during the mounds' construction. These have
become infilled over the years but are known from earlier excavation and
aerial photographs to survive as buried features approximately 3m wide.
Excavations carried out in 1848 and 1935 in the vicinity of the barrows
produced finds from several periods including Iron Age and Roman pottery
fragments, the cremated bones of a woman and a child, a male skeleton, an
Early Bronze Age dagger and an important selection of early Neolithic and
Bronze Age pottery.

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 two bell barrows 520m and 550m north of Lower Chance Farm are part of the
larger cemetery on Blewbury Down. They are known to survive well and, despite
part excavation last century will contain archaeological evidence relating
to their construction and the landscape in which they were built as well as
further contemporary and later burials.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
PRN 9208 (1), C.A.O., Two Barrows, (1991)
PRN 9208 (2), C.A.O., Two Barrows, (1991)
Volume 2, Passmore, A D, Field Diary : Scrapbook,
Volume 2, Passmore, A D, Field Diary : Scrapbook,

Source: Historic England