Bowl barrow north of Breeze Hill, 540m ESE of the top of Zig-Zag Hill

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

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1013677
Date first listed:: 12-Jul-1961

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1013677
Date first listed:: 12-Jul-1961
Date of most recent amendment:: 19-Apr-1996

Location

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

District:: Dorset (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Melbury Abbas
National Grid Reference:: ST 89802 20547

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.

Despite having been reduced in height by cultivation, the bowl barrow north of Breeze Hill will contain archaeological remains, providing information about Bronze Age burial practices, economy and environment.

Details

The monument includes the remains of a Bronze Age ditched bowl barrow, part of a dispersed group of barrows on Breeze Hill on the northern part of Melbury Down. The barrow mound is now visible as a slight rise in the ground and was previously recorded as being c.13m in diameter. No trace of a ditch surrounding the mound is visible but a depression has previously been recorded on its north west side. The ditch now survives as a buried feature c.2m 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:: 27350
Legacy System:: RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, L V, 'Procs Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Soc.' in Dorset Barrows, (1959), 119

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.