Details

The monument includes a pair of bowl barrows situated on the south facing
slope of a small dry valley to the north of Pertwood Wood. The valley is cut
into Upper Chalk on the high ground south of the Wylye valley.
The barrows have been spread by ploughing but are still visible as circular
mounds. The mound to the west is 0.3m high and 22m in diameter while that to
the east is 0.3m high and 21m in diameter. Both are surrounded by ditches
from which material was quarried during their construction. These have become
infilled but will survive as buried features about 3m wide.
A further barrow to the north west is the subject of a separate scheduling.

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.

Despite some years of ploughing, the bowl barrows 1050m NNW of Pertwood Wood
survive comparatively well and will contain archaeological and environmental
remains relating to the monument and the landscape in which it
was constructed.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, L V, The Victoria History of the County of Wiltshire, (1957), 192
Grinsell, L V, The Victoria History of the County of Wiltshire, (1957), 192

Source: Historic England