Details

The monument includes a prehistoric round barrow cemetery known as Battle Gore
located on the north western outskirts of Williton. It includes five barrows,
three of which survive as earthworks and two as ring ditches. All the
barrows are of Late Neolithic to Bronze Age date. The monument also includes a
burial chamber of probable Neolithic date. The cemetery is linear in plan,
broadly following a north to south alignment.
The three round barrows which survive as earthworks are bowl barrows and have
mounds varying between 30m-34m in diameter and 0.4m-1.75m in height. All three
mounds are surrounded by ditches from which material was quarried during their
construction. These have become infilled over the years and now survive as
buried features which are visible on aerial photographs from which they can be
calculated to be approximately 3m wide. A partial excavation in 1931 of the
northernmost barrow revealed that any primary interment in the centre of the
mound would have been removed during an earlier unrecorded antiquarian
excavation. However, a secondary cremation of a woman or youth in a large
pottery urn with an oak cover was found about 6m east of centre in a small
stone cist; flint implements were discovered among the burnt bone. Further
flint implements and prehistoric pottery were recovered during the course of
the excavation from the mound material.
The two barrows which survive as ring ditches are located in the southern part
of the cemetery, one 70m to the south west of the southernmost bowl barrow and
the other 85m to its north. The ditches represent the ditches from which
material for the construction of the barrow mounds was quarried. They are no
longer clearly discernible on the ground but survive as buried features
which are visible on aerial photographs and from which their diameters are
calculated to be 14m and 18m respectively. The burial chamber located in the
northern part of the cemetery is represented by a group of large stones lying
in a shallow depression; the stones have been identified as local New Red
Sandstone. Two of the stones are partly buried and the whole of a third stone
is recumbent above ground. The excavation programme of 1931 investigated the
burial chamber and this revealed evidence that the two partly buried stones,
one 1.5m long 0.6m wide and one 1.2m long 0.9m wide, were set into socket
holes, and it was concluded that these two stones probably formed the upright
components of a dolmen-like burial chamber and that the third, now recumbent
stone, 2.1m long and 1m wide, formed the cap stone of the chamber. The
burial chamber is thought to have been the central component within a
Neolithic chambered tomb which may at one stage have comprised a mound of
smaller stones placed over and around the burial chamber; these may have
become dispersed in antiquity as a result of cultivation. Aerial photographs
show an enclosing quarry ditch, now infilled and approximately 30m in
diameter. The chambered tomb may have provided a focus for the Bronze Age
burials which came later.
The name Battle Gore is derived from a reference in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicals
citing a Danish raid in AD 918. The ensuing battle is traditionally held to
have taken place in the vicinity of the barrows. The tithe map of 1841 shows
that some of the fields in which the barrows lie are called Graborough (Grave
Barrow) and antiquarian discoveries of burials and socketed bronze weapons
(now known to be Bronze Age) during the 19th century may have strengthened the
case for a battle at this location.
All pylons, and fence and gateposts 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.

Despite cultivation which has reduced the heights of the barrow mounds, and
disturbance of the northernmost bowl barrow due to antiquarian excavation and
drainage works, the prehistoric round barrow cemetery at Battle Gore
immediately west of North Road survives well and is known from partial
excavation to contain archaeological deposits and environmental evidence
relating to the monument and the landscape in which it was constructed. Its
importance is further enhanced by the presence of the burial chamber, a
comparatively rare feature probably of Neolithic date, which can be included
among the oldest visible monuments to survive in the area.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Gray, H St, 'Proceedings Somerset Archaeological & Natural History Society' in Battlegore, Williton, (1931), 19-21
Gray, H St, 'Proceedings Somerset Archaeological & Natural History Society' in Battlegore, Williton, (1931), 9 - 36
Grinsell, L V, 'Proceedings of Somerset Archaelogical & Natural History Society' in Somerset Barrows, , Vol. 113 pt 1, (1969), 41
Grinsell, L V, 'Proceedings of Somerset Archaelogical & Natural History Society' in Somerset Barrows, , Vol. 113 pt 1, (1969), 41
Grinsell, L V, 'Proceedings of Somerset Archaelogical & Natural History Society' in Somerset Barrows, , Vol. 113 pt 1, (1969), 41
Grinsell, L V, 'Proceedings of Somerset Archaelogical & Natural History Society' in Somerset Barrows, , Vol. 113 pt 1, (1969), 41

Source: Historic England