Four bowl barrows 725m ESE of Wears Farm
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Scheduled Monument
- List Entry Number:
- 1002825
- Date first listed:
- 12-Dec-1958
Location
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Scheduled Monument
- List Entry Number:
- 1002825
- Date first listed:
- 12-Dec-1958
- Location Description:
- Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.
Location
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- Dorset (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Abbotsbury
- National Grid Reference:
- SY 56605 86237, SY 56908 86288, SY 56946 86282, SY 56983 86302
Reasons for Designation
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. 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. Despite some reduction in the heights of the mounds through past cultivation, the four bowl barrows 725m ESE of Wears Farm survive well and will contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to their construction, relative chronologies, territorial significance, social organisation, ritual and funerary practices and overall landscape context.
Details
The monument, which falls into four areas of protection, includes four bowl barrows situated along the summit of the prominent coastal ridge of Wears Hill. The barrows survive as circular mounds. They are surrounded by buried quarry ditches, from which the construction material was derived. The barrow mounds vary in size from 12m up to 16m in diameter and from 1.1m up to 2m high. One has a flattened top.
Sources: HER:- PastScape Monument No:-450362 and 450359
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- DO 394
- Legacy System:
- RSM - OCN
Legal
This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 10-Jun-2026 at 23:04:15.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.