Two bowl barrows 500m south west of Foxhill Farm. Part of Foxhill 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 Foxhill round barrow cemetery has the largest number of surviving barrows in any cemetery within the New Forest. Although some of the barrow mounds have been reduced in size or partially disturbed, all of the barrows retain undisturbed remains and the cemetery as a whole has considerable archaeological potential. The New Forest region is known to have been important in terms of lowland Bronze Age occupation and a considerable amount of archaeological evidence has survived because of a lack of agricultural activity, the result of later climatic deterioration, development of heath and the establishment of a Royal Forest.

Details

This monument includes two bowl barrows situated within a Forestry Commission Plantation on a south facing slope overlooking the valley of the River Beaulieu. The northern barrow mound measures 8.5m in diameter and stands up to 1m high. A ditch, from which material was quarried during construction of the monument, survives as a slight earthwork 1.5m wide and 0.3m deep around the north and west parts of the mound and as a buried feature elsewhere. The second barrow lies five metres to the south and survives as a slight rise of indeterminate shape. Although no longer visible at ground level the quarry ditch survives as a buried feature 1m wide around the circumference of the mound.

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:

20217

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, L V, Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club in Hampshire Barrows, (1938), 360
Grinsell, L V, Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club in Hampshire Barrows, (1938)

Other
Darvill, T.C., Monument Class Description - Round Barrow Cemeteries, 1988,
Darvill, T.C., Monument Class Description - Round Barrow Cemeteries, 1988,

End of official list entry

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