Bowl barrow on Charn Hill

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

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1014711
Date first listed:: 21-Apr-1977

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1014711
Date first listed:: 21-Apr-1977
Date of most recent amendment:: 28-Jun-1996

Location

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

District:: Somerset (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Charlton Horethorne
National Grid Reference:: ST 66710 23488

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 possible part excavation, the bowl barrow on Charn Hill survives well and will contain archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the barrow and the landscape in which it was constructed.

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow on a ridge top position in south east Somerset. The land falls away sharply on the west side but more gently elsewhere. The barrow has a mound which measures c.16m in diameter and is c.3m high when seen from the west side and c.1.5m high on the north side. Surrounding the mound is a ditch from which material was quarried during its construction. This can no longer be seen at ground level having become infilled over the years, but survives as a buried feature c.3m wide. The top is flattened with indications of an excavation from the centre to the east side. This may represent an antiquarian investigation.

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:: 22072
Legacy System:: RSM

Sources

Other
Ordinance Survey Field Officer, Ordinance Survey card ST 62 SE 10, (1975)

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.