Four bowl barrows 500m west of Well Bottom Wood, forming part of the Pitcombe Down round barrow cemetery

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 reduction in their height by cultivation, the four bowl barrows 500m west of Well Bottom Wood survive comparatively well and will contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to the Pitcombe Down cemetery and the landscape in which it was constructed.

Details

The monument includes four bowl barrows aligned south east to north west and situated on a chalk ridge of the South Dorset Downs, overlooking the South Winterbourne Valley to the north east and the round barrow cemetery at Winterbourne Poor Lot to the north west. The barrows form part of the Pitcombe Down round barrow cemetery which contains ten barrows in all. These four barrows are located below the crest of the ridge and would have been visible on the skyline when viewed from the valley bottom. Each of the four barrows has a mound composed of earth, chalk and flint with dimensions of between 10m and 15m in diameter and c.0.15m to 0.6m in height. Each mound is surrounded by a ditch from which material was quarried during the construction of the monument. The ditches are no longer visible at ground level as they have become infilled over the years, but each will survive as a buried feature c.1m wide.

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:

22968

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
An Inventory of the Historical Monuments of Dorset: Volume 1 , (1952), 39
An Inventory of the Historical Monuments of Dorset: Volume 1 , (1952), 39
An Inventory of the Historical Monuments of Dorset: Volume 1 , (1952), 39

End of official list entry

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