Group of four bowl barrows 250m WNW of Peaked Close House: part of a dispersed round barrow cemetery on Corfe Common

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 four bowl barrows on Corfe Common survive comparatively well and will contain archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the cemetery and the landscape in which it was constructed. These barrows are amongst a number which survive in the area of the Purbeck Hills.

Details

The monument includes a compact group of four bowl barrows forming part of a wider dispersed round barrow cemetery. The group is situated on an east-west ridge in a valley with views to the north over the town of Corfe Castle and to the south to the Purbeck Hills. The four barrows vary in size between 7m and 23m in diameter and 0.4m and 2m high. Surrounding each mound is a ditch from which material was quarried during its construction. One of these survives as a slight depression 2m wide and 0.5m deep. The remainder can no longer be seen at ground level, having become infilled over the years, but survive as buried features between c.1m and c.4m wide.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

21962

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, , County of Dorset , (1970), 443

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