Reasons for Designation
A small number of areas in southern England appear to have acted as foci for
ceremonial and ritual activity during the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods.
Two of the best known and earliest recognised areas are around Avebury and
Stonehenge, now jointly designated as a World Heritage Site.
The area of chalk downland which surrounds Stonehenge contains one of the
densest and most varied groups of Neolithic and Bronze Age field monuments in
Britain. Included within the area are Stonehenge itself, the Stonehenge
cursus, the Durrington Walls henge, and a variety of burial monuments, many
grouped into cemeteries.
The area has been the subject of archaeological research since the 18th
century when Stukeley recorded many of the monuments and partially excavated a
number of the burial mounds. More recently, the collection of artefacts from
the surfaces of ploughed fields has supplemented the evidence for ritual and
burial by revealing the intensity of contemporary settlement and land-use.
In view of the importance of the area, all ceremonial and sepulchral monuments
of this period which retain significant archaeological remains are identified
as nationally important. 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, normally 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 variety of burial practices. There are over
10,000 surviving bowl barrows recorded nationally and at least 320 in the
Stonehenge area. This group of monuments will provide important information
on the development of this area during the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age
periods.
Two of the three bowl barrows on Stonehenge Down immediately north of the A303
survive well, and all three are known from partial excavation to contain
archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the monument and
the landscape in which it was constructed.
Details
The monument includes three bowl barrows immediately north of the A303 on
Stonehenge Down, situated on a south facing slope with views across Normanton
Down. Two of the three barrows are aligned north-south; a smaller barrow is
located immediately to the east of the southern barrow. The mound of the
northernmost barrow is 23m in diameter and 1.8m high, surrounded by a ditch 4m
wide and 0.5m deep, giving an overall diameter of 31m. The mound of the barrow
8m south of it is 24m in diameter and 1.8m high, surrounded by a ditch which
is c.4m wide and survives as a slight earthwork. The overall diameter is
therefore c.32m. The smaller eastern barrow has been levelled by cultivation,
but the mound is represented on the Ordnance Survey 25 inch map of 1901 from
which its diameter is calculated to be c.8m. The ditch which surrounds it is
now difficult to identify on the ground, but is calculated to be c.1m wide,
giving an overall diameter of c.10m. All three barrows were partially
excavated in the 19th century and probable primary cremations were found in
both the larger barrows. Records indicate that a cremation was found in the
smaller barrow contained within the Stonehenge urn, thought to be the largest
barrel urn in Britain.
All fence posts are excluded from the scheduling, but the ground beneath
these features is included.
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.
