Bowl barrow 800m NNW of West Morden 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.

Despite some reduction by ploughing, the bowl barrow 800m NNW of West Morden Farmsurvives comparatively well and will contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to the monument and the landscape in which it was constructed.

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow situated on a chalk ridge overlooking the Winterborne Valley to the north. The barrow has a mound composed of earth, flint and chalk, with maximum dimensions of 42m in diameter and c.0.6m in height. The mound is surrounded by a ditch from which material was quarried during the construction of the monument. The ditch has become infilled over the years, but will survive as a buried feature c.2m 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:

28365

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, L V, Procs Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Soc. in Dorset Barrows, (1959), 121
Grinsell, L V, Procs Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Soc. in Dorset Barrows, (1959), 121

End of official list entry

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