Reasons for Designation
Since 1916 the Porton Down Range has been used for military purposes. As on
the Salisbury Plain Training Area, this has meant that it has not been subject
to the intensive arable farming seen elsewhere on the Wessex chalk. Porton, as
a result, is one of very few surviving areas of uncultivated chalk downland in
England and contains a range of well-preserved archaeological sites, many of
Neolithic or Bronze Age date. These include long barrows and round barrows,
flint mines, and evidence for settlement, land division and agriculture.
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 organisation 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 320m north east of Straight Walk Plantation, although not
within the area of uncultivated downland, is a comparatively well preserved
example of its class. Despite some erosion caused by cultivation, it still
exhibits a largely original profile and will contain archaeological remains
providing information about Bronze Age beliefs, economy and environment.
Details
The monument includes a bowl barrow, among the most northerly of a group of at
least eight round barrows which straddles a shallow coombe south of Hampshire
Gap.
The barrow, which lies in the base of the coombe, has a mound 24m in diameter
and 0.7m high. Aerial photographs show a disturbance in the centre of the
mound which possibly results from antiquarian excavation carried out by
Cunnington in the early 19th century. No trace of the ditch surrounding the
mound can be seen on the ground, although this too is clearly visible on
aerial photographs and will survive as a buried feature c.3m 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.
