Bowl barrow on Hiscocks Hill

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.

Despite evidence for partial excavation, the bowl barrow on Hiscocks Hill survives comparatively well in the New Forest, an area known to have been important in terms of lowland Bronze Age occupation. A considerable amount of archaeological evidence has survived in this area because of a lack of agricultural activity, the result of later climatic deterioration, development of heath and the establishment of a Royal Forest. No other Bronze Age rectangular barrows are known, and it must therefore be concluded that this is either a unique form of barrow or it was re-shaped for some unknown purpose in antiquity.

Details

This monument includes a bowl barrow situated on lowland heath. The barrow mound is of rectangular shape; it measures 9m long by 7.5m wide and stands up to 0.7m high. A hollow in the centre of the mound indicates the location of a partial excavation carried out in 1862 when fragments of four Bronze Age pots and associated cremation burials were found. Surrounding the mound is a ditch from which material was quarried during the construction of the barrow. This has become partly infilled over the years but survives as a slight earthwork measuring 1.5m wide and 0.1m deep.

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:

20301

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Wise, J R, The New Forest, (1882), 207-8

Other
Hampshire County Planning Department, SU21SW62,

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