Reasons for Designation
A small number of areas in southern England appear to have acted as foci for
ceremonial and ritual activity during the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods.
Two of the best known and earliest recognised areas are around Avebury and
Stonehenge, now jointly designated as a World Heritage Site.
The area of chalk downland which surrounds Stonehenge contains one of the
densest and most varied groups of Neolithic and Bronze Age field monuments in
Britain. Included within the area are Stonehenge itself, the Stonehenge
cursus, the Durrington Walls henge, and a variety of burial monuments, many
grouped into cemeteries.
The area has been the subject of archaeological research since the 18th
century when Stukeley recorded many of the monuments and partially excavated a
number of the burial mounds. More recently, the collection of artefacts from
the surfaces of ploughed fields has supplemented the evidence for ritual and
burial by revealing the intensity of contemporary settlement and land-use.
In view of the importance of the area, all ceremonial and sepulchral monuments
of this period which retain significant archaeological remains are identified
as nationally important. 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, normally 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 variety of burial practices. There are over
10,000 surviving bowl barrows recorded nationally and at least 320 in the
Stonehenge area. This group of monuments will provide important information
on the development of this area during the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age
periods.
The two bowl barrows 100m west of Durrington Down Plantation survive
comparatively well and, despite partial excavation of the northern barrow,
will contain archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the
monument and the landscape in which it was constructed.
Details
The monument includes two bowl barrows aligned north east-south west and
situated on a low natural ridge 100m west of Durrington Down Plantation. The
barrow mound to the south has a diameter of 30m and is c.0.5m high. The second
barrow, 34m north east of this, is visible as a slight rise 18m in diameter
and 0.2m high. Surrounding each barrow mound is a ditch from which material
was quarried during its construction. The ditch of the southern barrow has
become infilled over the years but survives as a buried feature visible as a
ring of darker soil 4m wide. The ditch of the northern barrow has become
infilled but survives as a buried feature 2m wide. The northern barrow was
partially excavated in the 19th century when human bone and other associated
finds were found.
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.
