Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow situated on the flood plain of the Wylye
valley to the south east of Warminster. The barrow lies 110m south of the
river.
The mound of the barrow is irregular in form due to partial excavation in the
18th century and comprises a `D'-shaped platform 0.2m high supporting a
central prominence 1.4m high. From north east to south west the platform is
21m wide. To the east it has been truncated by a drainage ditch and the width
is 19m. The mound was surrounded by a ditch from which material was quarried
for its construction. This has become infilled and will survive as a buried
feature 3m wide, except to the east where this feature may have been removed.
The barrow was partially excavated by Mrs Downs in 1787 who found an urn of
unbaked clay containing a cremation.

MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.

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.

Despite truncation on one side, the bowl barrow 270m south west of Norton
Bavant House survives well and is known from partial excavation to contain
archaeological and environmental evidence for the monument and the landscape
in which it was constructed. The low lying barrows of the Wylye valley provide
evidence for settlement patterns of the later prehistoric period.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Colt Hoare, R, History of Ancient Wiltshire: Volume II, (1821), 114

Source: Historic England