Bowl barrow 850m southeast of Bristol Plain Farm

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

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1010502
Date first listed:: 19-Dec-1929

User submitted image — Uploaded by Raymond Ducker This photo may not represent the current condition of the site
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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1010502
Date first listed:: 19-Dec-1929
Date of most recent amendment:: 16-Jan-1992

Location

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

District:: Somerset (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Priddy
National Grid Reference:: ST 51036 51629

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.

The bowl barrow 850m southeast of Bristol Plain Farm survives comparatively well despite a small area of localised disturbance caused by B M Skinner's partial excavation in 1816. Although it is likely that the primary burial has been disturbed, much of the barrow and the quarry ditches remain intact. It therefore has potential for the recovery of archaeological and environmental evidence relating both to the monument and the landscape in which it was constructed. The importance of the monument is enhanced by its location in an area which exhibits a concentration of contemporary burial monuments, thus giving an indication of the nature and scale of human occupation during the Bronze Age period.

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow set on level ground 850m southeast of Bristol Plain Farm. It comprises a mound 15m in diameter and c.2m high at its highest point. Although no longer visible at ground level a ditch, from which material was quarried during the construction of the monument, surrounds the mound. This has become infilled over the years but survives as a buried feature c.2m wide. The monument is the southernmost of four barrows aligned on a northwest-southeast axis. The site was partially excavated by B M Skinner in 1816. Finds included a possible cremation burial with much charcoal in an oval cist c.1m across, c.1.22m deep, and covered by a flat slab.

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:: 13821
Legacy System:: RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, L, 'Proceedings of the Somerset Archaeology and Natural Hist Soc' in Somerset Barrows Part II, , Vol. Vol 115, (1971)
Tratman, E K, 'Proceedings of the Univ of Bristol Speleological Society' in Fieldwork, , Vol. Vol 2(3), (1925), 284-5
Other
ms 28794 folio 85-6; 3648 folio 158, Skinner, B M, MS 28794 folio 85-6; 3648 folio 158, (1816)

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.