Bowl barrow 400m south of Waters Down Farm

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.

The bowl barrow 400m south of Waters Down Farm is, despite the truncation of the western end of the mound and some disturbance by burrowing animals, a well preserved example of its class which exhibits an unusual elongated mound. The barrow will contain archaeological remains providing information about Bronze Age burial practices, economy and environment.

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow, part of linear group containing at least five round barrows which lie on undulating ground to the south of Waters Down Farm. The barrow, which lies on a gentle north west facing slope not far above the bottom of a dry valley, has a slightly elongated mound 23m (east-west) by 22m, orientated ENE-WSW and truncated at its western end by a road. The mound is 1.2m high and the exposed section on the roadside shows it to be constructed of chalk rubble overlying a turf core. The ditch, from which material to construct the mound was quarried, is visible only within the south east corner of the fenced area around the barrow. Here it is 3m wide and has been traced by geophysical survey and probing as a continuous feature in the surrounding field. Although formerly classified by the Ordnance Survey as a `short' long barrow, more recent investigation has shown this example can best be interpreted as a bowl barrow. Excluded from the scheduling are all fence posts and the metalled surface of the road, although the ground beneath them 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:

26748

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Royal Commission on Historical Monuments of England, , Long Barrows in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, (1976), xxx

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