Bowl barrow on Arne Hill 200m south of Arne Dairy House

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

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1014300
Date first listed:: 06-Jul-1959

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1014300
Date first listed:: 06-Jul-1959
Date of most recent amendment:: 07-Feb-1996

Location

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

District:: Dorset (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Arne
National Grid Reference:: SY 97163 88067

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 levelling of the barrow mound during and after World War II, the bowl barrow on Arne Hill 200m south of Arne Dairy House will contain buried remains including both archaeological and environmental evidence relating to the monument and the landscape in which it was constructed. This is one of several barrows to survive in the area surrounding Poole Harbour.

Details

The monument includes the levelled remains of a bowl barrow situated on Arne Hill in the Isle of Purbeck, overlooking the surrounding heathland and Poole Harbour to the north east. The barrow had a small mound composed of earth, sand and turf. This was reduced during World War II, although it is known as an upstanding feature visible on aerial photographs taken in 1952. Surrounding the mound is a ditch from which material was quarried during the construction of the monument. This has become infilled over the years but 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:: 28302
Legacy System:: RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, L V, 'Procs Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Soc.' in Dorset Barrows, (1959), 86
Other
Mention small mound, IAM,
Visible barrow remains, (1952)

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.