Bowl barrow east of Court Hill Plantation

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1010403
Date first listed:: 03-Mar-1927

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1010403
Date first listed:: 03-Mar-1927
Date of most recent amendment:: 06-Feb-1992

Location

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

District:: Wiltshire (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Kingston Deverill
National Grid Reference:: ST 83613 36910

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 partial excavation of the Court Hill bowl barrow, much of the monument remains intact, survives comparatively well and has potential for the recovery of further archaeological remains. The significance of the monument is enhanced by the fact that numerous other round barrows survive in the area as well as additional evidence for contemporary settlement. Such evidence provides a clear indication of the extent to which the area was settled during the Bronze Age period.

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow set below the crest of Court Hill, on an east-facing slope overlooking the valley of the River Wylye. The barrow mound is 21m in diameter and 3.75m high. Surrounding the mound is a ditch from which material was quarried during the construction of the monument. This survives as an earthwork 6m wide and 0.5m deep on the south side of the mound, and as a buried feature elsewhere. The site was partially excavated by Colt-Hoare in the 19th century. Finds included a cremation burial with a bronze dagger. The scars resulting from early excavation can be seen on the surface of the monument.

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:: 12298
Legacy System:: RSM

Sources

Books and journals
'Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine' in Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine, , Vol. 49, (1958)

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 Culture, Media and Sport.