Bowl barrow 650m south of Chaldon Down Buildings: part of the Chaldon Down 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.

Despite disturbance caused by the insertion of a triangulation pillar on the mound and construction of a reservoir immediately to the north, the bowl barrow on Chaldon Down will contain archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the cemetery and the landscape in which it was constructed. This barrow is one of a number which survive on the chalk downland of Chaldon Down.

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow, forming part of a wider round barrow cemetery, situated on chalk downland above the Dorset coast. The barrow lies on the crest of a hill with views to the north, west and east over Chaldon Down, and the sea to the south. A reservoir has been constructed immediately to the north of the barrow mound, partly truncating it. The surviving extent of the barrow mound measures 11.1m north-south, 14.3m east-west and is 1m high. Originally surrounding the mound but no longer surviving on the north side is a ditch from which material was quarried during its construction. This has become infilled over the years and can no longer be seen at ground level. It does, however, survive as a buried feature c.3m wide. The post and wire fence which crosses the monument and the triangulation point which lies on the top of 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:

21956

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

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

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.