Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow situated on level ground south of Sleep
Valley. The barrow has a mound composed of sand, earth and turf, with maximum
dimensions of 24m in diameter and about 1.2m in height. Surrounding the mound
is a ditch from which material was quarried during the construction of the
monument. This has become infilled over the years, but will survive as a
buried feature 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 bowl barrow in Plumley Wood 630m east of decoy pond on Cranborne
Common, survives well and will contain archaeological and environmental
evidence relating to the monument and the landscape in which it was
constructed. This is one of a number of barrows surviving in this area of
Ringwood Forest.

Source: Historic England