Details

The monument includes a Bronze Age bowl barrow situated 900m north of the
Seven Barrows round barrow cemetery and 900m north east of Sevenbarrows House
which lie around it.
The barrow is one of a number which are outliers to the main cemetery on the
spur of Sparsholt Down, several of which are the subject of separate
schedulings.
The barrow mound measures approximately 30m in diameter and stands up to 1.7m
high. Its summit has a slight depression believed to represent the site of an
antiquarian investigation of the barrow, although no details are known.
Originally surrounding the mound, but no longer visible at ground level was a
quarry ditch from which material was obtained during the construction of the
monument. Although now buried below the present ground level this will
survive as a buried feature approximately 2.5m 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 Sparsholt Down bowl barrow 900m north of Seven Barrows round barrow
cemetery is one of a number of outliers of the well known Seven Barrows round
barrow cemetery. It survives well and will contain archaeological evidence
relating to its construction and the landscape in which the cemetery was
built.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
Multiple, Scheduled Monuments - Berkshire, (1996)

Source: Historic England