Bowl barrow 400m south east of Melcombe Newton House

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.

This barrow is a comparatively well preserved example of its class located in a prominent position. Part excavation has provided information about the structure of the barrow and the burials it contains while the remainder of the monument will contain further archaeological remains, providing information about Bronze Age burial practices, economy and environment.

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow located on a north west slope just below the top of a spur, adjacent to the parish boundary. The barrow has a mound which is 25m in diameter and c.2.3m high. The mound is surrounded by a ditch which, although no longer visible, survives as a buried feature 1.5m wide and 0.7m deep. There is an irregular depression in the top of the mound which is 5.4m east-west by 4.6m north-south and a platform on the western side of the mound, 3m wide, both of which probably result from the part excavations carried out in 1916 and 1917 by Major C Ashburnham. The excavation showed that the barrow was probably constructed in two phases. Initially a flint cairn capped with chalk, c.10m in diameter and c.2m high, was constructed over a pit cut into the natural chalk which contained a crouched inhumation. This cairn was surrounded by a ditch up to 2m wide and 1.2m deep. Other burials, associated with this first phase of construction, but in secondary positions, include the remains of the burials of possibly eight other individuals, one of them a child who had been cremated; these were located either within the mound or in the top of the ditch. Two further cremations in urns, one with a bronze awl, were found in the top of the inner ditch. The original cairn was later enlarged to its current size when a second ditch was dug 3.4m outside the earlier ditch. This was located in the excavation trench only on the northern side of the mound and, although there is no visible sign of it on the surface of the southern side, it will survive as a buried feature. An inhumation was buried in the top of this enlarged mound. Although the excavation trench was backfilled its location is still clearly visible and there are many flint nodules exposed or dumped around the base of the mound (the excavation report mentions that flints were removed from the trench and rolled down the slope). All fence posts are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath these features 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:

27374

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Ashburnham, C, Procs. Dorset natural Hist. and Archaeological Society in Opening of the Round Barrow at Melcombe Bingham, Vol. 38, (1917), 74-80

End of official list entry

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