Four bowl barrows 70m east of Seven Barrows Farm

Reasons for Designation

Round barrow cemeteries date to the Bronze Age (c.2000-700 BC). They comprise closely-spaced groups of up to 30 round barrows - rubble or earthen mounds covering single or multiple burials. Most cemeteries developed over a considerable period of time, often many centuries, and in some cases acted as a focus for burials as late as the early medieval period. They exhibit considerable diversity of burial rite, plan and form, frequently including several different types of round barrow, occasionally associated with earlier long barrows. Where large scale investigation has been undertaken around them, contemporary or later "flat" burials between the barrow mounds have often been revealed. Round barrow cemeteries occur across most of lowland Britain, with a marked concentration in Wessex. In some cases, they are clustered around other important contemporary monuments such as henges. Often occupying prominent locations, they are a major historic element in the modern landscape, whilst their diversity and their longevity as a monument type provide important information on the variety of beliefs and social organisation amongst early prehistoric communities. They are particularly representative of their period and a substantial proportion of surviving or partly-surviving examples are considered worthy of protection.

Despite some reduction by ploughing, the four bowl barrows 70m east of Seven Barrows Farm survive comparatively well and will contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to the cemetery and the landscape in which it was constructed.

Details

The monument includes a group of four bowl barrows situated on a ridge overlooking Poole Harbour to the south east and views to the Purbeck Hills to the south. The mopnument contains four of the eight barrows which together comprise a round barrow cemetery. (The other four barrows are the subject of a separate scheduling.) The barrows, which are aligned north east by south west, each have a mound composed of earth, sand and turf, with maximum dimensions of between 12m-25m in diameter and c.0.4m-0.8m in height. The mounds are each surrounded by a ditch from which material was quarried during the construction of the monument. The ditches have become infilled over the years, but will survive as buried features c.1.5m-2m wide. Part excavations were conducted at the site by Shipp and Durden in 1844, although the results of the investigations are not known. Excluded from the scheduling are the fence posts relating to the modern field boundaries and the surface of the farm track, 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:

28373

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset: Volume I, (1970), 455

Other
Leech, P, Ancient Monuments Record Form,
RCHME, National Monuments Record,

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