Bowl barrow 450m southwest of Fernhill Farm

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

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1011523
Date first listed:: 19-Jul-1933

Low grassy mound in foreground, trees against cloudy grey sky. — Uploaded by Andrew Buchanan 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:: 1011523
Date first listed:: 19-Jul-1933
Date of most recent amendment:: 12-Aug-1993

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 52440 55251

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 450m southwest of Fernhill Farm survives well and, despite a small area of localised disturbance caused by H Taylor's excavation in 1926, much of the monument remains intact. It therefore contains archaeological and environmental evidence relating both to the monument and the landscape in which it was constructed. The monument survives in an area which contains 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 located on level ground 450m southwest of Fernhill Farm. It is visible as a barrow mound 23m in diameter and c.1.25m high at its highest point. The barrow mound has been spread by past cultivation. Although no longer visible at ground level a ditch, from which material was quarried during the construction of the monument, surrounds the barrow mound. This has become infilled over the years but survives as a buried feature c.3m wide. The barrow was partially excavated by H Taylor in 1926. Finds from the site included Early to Middle Bronze Age pottery and the tips of two antler picks. The finds are now located in the University of Bristol Speleological Society Museum.

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:: 13868
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), p. 102
Taylor, H, 'Proceedings of the Univ of Bristol Speleological Society' in Third Report On The....Mendip Barrows, , Vol. Vol 2(3), (1925), p.212
Tratman, EK, 'Proceedings of the Univ of Bristol Speleological Society' in Proceedings of the University of Bristol Speleological Society, , Vol. Vol 3(1), (1927), p. 31
Other
Dennison, E, (1985)

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.