Bowl barrow 260m SSE of the southern corner of Moll Harris's Clump: one of a group of round barrows on Porton Down

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 260m SSE of Moll Harris's Clump is a comparatively well preserved example of its class. Despite some erosion caused by burrowing animals, it exhibits a largely original profile. The barrow will contain archaeological remains providing information about Bronze Age beliefs, economy and environment.

Details

The monument includes a ditched bowl barrow, one of the most northerly surviving examples within a scattered group of at least seven round barrows which straddles a shallow coombe on Porton Down. The barrow, which lies on a shallow south east facing slope, has a mound 21m in diameter and 0.8m high. Immediately adjacent to the mound on its northern side are traces of a ditch c.2m wide. Elsewhere around the mound this will survive as a buried feature. Beyond the edge of the mound in those places where the ditch is not visible, and most pronounced on the downslope (south east) side, is a level platform c.5m wide. The edge of this platform, the line of which reflects the curve of the barrow mound, represents the overall extent of the barrow. Excluded from the scheduling is the archaeological site marker on the south side of the barrow, although the ground beneath it 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.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

26758

Legacy System:

RSM

End of official list entry

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