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Three bowl barrows 220m WSW of sea mark, forming part of a Bronze Age round barrow cemetery on Ashey Down

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

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1012764
Date first listed:: 20-Nov-1995

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1012764
Date first listed:: 20-Nov-1995

Location

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

District:: Isle of Wight (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Havenstreet and Ashey
National Grid Reference:: SZ 57227 87513

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.

Despite having been disturbed by cultivation, and two of the barrows having been partially excavated, the three bowl barrows 220m WSW of the sea mark are integral to the Ashey Down cemetery and, as is known from one of those partially excavated, will contain archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the cemetery and the landscape in which it was constructed.

Details

The monument includes three bowl barrows on the upper south west facing side of a hill, on the central upper chalk ridge of the Isle of Wight. These barrows form part of a wider cemetery on Ashey Down which includes 19 barrows. Only two of the three barrows can be seen on the ground. These closely spaced barrows have mounds which measure 15m and 12m in diameter and are 0.2m and 0.5m high respectively. The third barrow is known from previous reports to be 10m in diameter and to have been 0.3m high in 1940. Surrounding each mound is a ditch from which material was quarried during its construction. These ditches have become infilled over the years and can no longer be seen at ground level, but survive as buried features c.2m wide. Two barrows in this group were partially excavated by B Barrow in 1853. Finds from one of the barrows included a small Roman urn containing burnt bones and the tusk of an animal.

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:: 22050
Legacy System:: RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Isle of Wight archaeological index, (1979)
Barrow, B, 'Journal of the British Archaeological Association' in Journal of the British Archaeological Association, (1855), 162ff
Barrow, B, 'Journal of the British Archaeological Association' in Journal of the British Archaeological Association, (1855), 162ff
Drewett, P L, 'Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club' in Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club, , Vol. 27, (1970), 55-56
Grinsell, , Sherwin, , 'Proceedings of the I.O.W. Nat History and Archaeological Soc' in Procedings of the I.O.W. Nat History and Archaeological Soc, , Vol. 3, (1940), 207-208

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.