Bowl barrow 820m south of Bristol Plain Farm: part of a linear round barrow cemetery

Reasons for Designation

Round barrow cemeteries date to the Bronze Age (c.2000-700 BC). They comprise closely-spaced groups of up to 30 round barrows - rubble or earthen mounds covering single or multiple burials. Most cemeteries developed over a considerable period of time, often many centuries, and in some cases acted as a focus for burials as late as the early medieval period. They exhibit considerable diversity of burial rite, plan and form, frequently including several different types of round barrow, occasionally associated with earlier long barrows. Where large scale investigation has been undertaken around them, contemporary or later "flat" burials between the barrow mounds have often been revealed. Round barrow cemeteries occur across most of lowland Britain, with a marked concentration in Wessex. In some cases, they are clustered around other important contemporary monuments such as henges. Often occupying prominent locations, they are a major historic element in the modern landscape, whilst their diversity and their longevity as a monument type provide important information on the variety of beliefs and social organisation amongst early prehistoric communities. They are particularly representative of their period and a substantial proportion of surviving or partly-surviving examples are considered worthy of protection.

The bowl barrow 820m south of Bristol Plain Farm survives well and contains archaeological and environmental evidence relating both to the monument and the landscape in which it was constructed. As well as being associated with the other bowl barrows in the round barrow cemetery, numerous other burial monuments of the same date also survive in the area. Such evidence gives an indication of the intensity of occupation and the nature of social organisation present in the area during the Bronze Age period.

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow located on level ground at the boundary of Rodney Stoke and Westbury parishes. It is visible as a barrow mound 17m in diameter and c.1m high at its highest point. Although no longer visible at ground level a ditch, from which material was quarried during the construction of the monument, surrounds the barrow mound. This has become infilled over the years but survives as a buried feature c.3m wide. A drystone wall running roughly east to west crosses the barrow mound. A second drystone wall runs south from this point. Both walls are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath them is included.

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.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

13914

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Tratman, E K, University of Bristol Speleological Society in Barrow Catalogue, ()
Tratman, E K, Proceedings of the Univ of Bristol Speleological Society in Fieldwork, Vol. Vol 2(3), (1925), p. 284
Grinsell, L, Proceedings of the Somerset Archaeology and Natural Hist Soc in Somerset Barrows Part II, Vol. Vol 115, (1971), p. 114

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