Westbury Beacon, a bell barrow 720m west of Brimble Pit Pool

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

The earthwork and buried remains of a bell barrow known as Westbury Beacon situated approximately 720m west of Brimble Pit Pool. It is one of a group of three barrows. Read the official list entry to find out more.

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1006177
Date first listed:: 16-Feb-1953

The Missing Pieces Project

Share your view of unique places.

Add your contribution

Location

Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.

There is a problem

Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions.

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.

What is the National Heritage List for England?

The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.

The list includes:

🏠 Buildings
🏰 Scheduled monuments
🌳 Parks and gardens
⚔️ Battlefields
⚓ Shipwrecks

Find out more about listing

Historic England Archive

Search over 1 million photographs and drawings from the 1850s to the present day using our images archive.

Find Photos

Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1006177
Date first listed:: 16-Feb-1953
Date of most recent amendment:: 21-Aug-2013
Location Description:: The bell barrow is centred on NGR ST 50049 50748 to the north of Westbury-sub-Mendip.

Location

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

District:: Somerset (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Westbury
National Grid Reference:: ST5004950748

Summary

The earthwork and buried remains of a bell barrow known as Westbury Beacon situated approximately 720m west of Brimble Pit Pool. It is one of a group of three barrows.

Reasons for Designation

The bell barrow known as Westbury Beacon is scheduled for the following principal reasons:

Rarity: as a bell barrow it is a rare site type since approximately only 350 examples are known nationally; Diversity: its probable re-use as a beacon enhances its interest and reflects the continuing prominence of this area during the medieval or post-medieval period; Potential: it will contribute to our understanding of the social organisation and burial practices of the country's Bronze Age population.

History

The main period of round barrow construction occurred in the Early Bronze Age between about 2200-1500 BC (a period when cremation succeeded inhumation as the primary burial rite), although Neolithic examples are known from as early as 3000 BC. They were constructed as earthen mounds, sometimes ditched, which covered single or multiple burials. They occur either in isolation or grouped as cemeteries and often acted as a focus of burials in later periods. Bell barrows are the most visually impressive form of round barrow, with most examples belonging to the period 1500-1100 BC. They were constructed as single or multiple mounds covering burials, often in pits, and surrounded by an enclosure ditch. Burials within bell barrows are frequently accompanied by weapons, personal ornaments and pottery and appear to be those of aristocratic individuals, usually men.

The bell barrow known locally as Westbury Beacon (ST 50048 50747) is situated on the summit of a prominent ridge overlooking a steep slope with the settlement of Rodney Stoke at its foot. In the late C18 the Rev. John Skinner (c1790) produced an illustration of the barrow and recorded that a number of bronze spear heads and other implements had been recovered from a stone-lined cist within the mound. E K Tratman (1923-5) noted that the barrow 'has been much disturbed, leaving a crater-like depression on the top', while Grinsell (1939) recorded that the summit of the mound had been hollowed out ' for the purpose of piling up the wood for the Beacon'. Barrow mounds were sometimes re-used as platforms for fire beacons which formed part of widespread signalling systems during the medieval or early post-medieval periods. Certainly place name evidence suggests that the barrow was probably used as a beacon mound in common with many barrows in the Mendip Hills. The first edition OS map also shows a trig point on the barrow; this must have been re-located at some point as it is now situated some 30m to the north-west adjacent to a field wall.

Details

Principal elements The bell barrow, known locally as Westbury Beacon, dates from the Early to Middle Bronze Age and is prominently situated on an eminence on the lip of a south-facing Mendip escarpment

Description It includes a roughly circular mound that stands up to 3m high and is 28m in diameter, with a berm up to 1.8m wide which is most clearly evident around the eastern side. An irregular quarry ditch that measures approximately 5m wide surrounds the mound and is most evident on the south and north-eastern sides; it has been partially infilled over time but will survive as a buried feature. There is a large depression, 9.4m wide and 1.5m deep, dug into the centre of the mound, probably the result of antiquarian excavations in the late C18.

Extent of scheduling The scheduling boundary around the bell barrow includes a 2m margin of support and protection for the monument.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:: SO 263
Legacy System:: RSM - OCN

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, L, 'Proceedings of Somerset Archaeology and Natural History Society' in Somerset Barrows, , Vol. 115, (1971), 121 and 126
Websites
Fieldwork, accessed from http://www.ubss.org.uk/resources/proceedings/vol2/UBSS_Proc_2_3_274-297.pdf
Other
Boundary Stone, Westbury-sub-Mendip, Somerset. Excavation Report, Somerset PRN 31076 by Westbury Society, September 2011,

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.