Details

The monument, which falls into two separate areas of protection, includes
three bowl barrows situated on the northern and eastern edges of a low ridge,
with panoramic views. These barrows form part of a dispersed group of eight
similar monuments, the rest which are the subject of separate schedulings.
The barrows were recorded by the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments
of England in 1970. Each has a mound composed of earth and chalk, with maximum
dimensions of between about 0.5m-1.5m in height and 14m-26m in diameter.
Surrounding each mound is a ditch from which material was quarried during the
construction of the monument. The ditches have become infilled over the years,
but each will survive as a buried feature about 2m 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 three bowl barrows 530m and 350m north east of Whitcombe Barn survive
comparatively well and will contain archaeological and environmental evidence
relating to the monument and the landscape in which it was constructed.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset: Volume I, (1970), 459

Source: Historic England