Bowl barrow 350m east of the shoulder angle of Bokerley Dyke on Martin Down

Overview

Heritage Category: Scheduled Monument

List Entry Number: 1010868

Date first listed: 17-May-1995

Location

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

National Grid Reference: SU 03763 19900

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 barrow 350m east of the shoulder angle of Bokerley Dyke survives well as one of the numerous Bronze Age monuments constructed on Martin Down. These have recently been the subject of a detailed survey. The barrow will contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to its construction and use.

Details

The monument includes a Bronze Age bowl barrow, one of several widely dispersed barrows on Martin Down east of Bokerley Dyke. The barrow lies on a very slight east facing slope in a former rifle firing range, now part of the Martin Down National Nature Reserve. The barrow has a mound c.11m in diameter and 0.5m high. Surrounding the mound is a ditch from which material was quarried during the construction of the monument. The ditch has become infilled over the years but survives as a buried feature c.1.5m wide. The surface of the mound shows no irregularities which might indicate the site of antiquarian excavation, although this is known to have occurred to other barrows on Martin Down.

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: 24339

Legacy System: RSM

Sources

Other
HCC, SU 01NW 5, (1984)

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 Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.