Two barrows in Halcombe Vale, 700m south west of Monastery Farm

Overview

Heritage Category: Scheduled Monument

List Entry Number: 1008142

Date first listed: 18-Apr-1963

Date of most recent amendment: 21-Jul-1994

Location

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

National Grid Reference: SY 85665 80485

Summary

Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.

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. 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.

The two bowl barrows in Halcombe Vale survive comparatively well and contain archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the monument and the landscape in which it was constructed. These barrows are amongst a number which survive on the range of hills along the Dorset coast.

History

Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.

Details

The monument includes two bowl barrows aligned north east-south west and situated in a valley overlooking the sea on the Dorset coast. The north eastern barrow mound is 2m high and 21.5m in diameter. The south western mound is 0.6m high and 10m across. Each mound is surrounded by a ditch from which material was quarried during its construction. These ditches can no longer be seen at ground level having become infilled over the years, but survive as buried features c.5m and c.3m wide respectively. The post and wire fences which cross the monument are excluded from the scheduling but the ground beneath 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: 21941

Legacy System: RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, , County of Dorset , (1970)

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 Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.