The Clandon Barrow, 450m west of Clandon 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 Clandon Barrow, 450m west of Clandon Farm, survives well and is known from part excavation to 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 Frome Valley to the north. The barrow, which is known as the Clandon Barrow, has a mound composed of earth, chalk and flint with maximum dimensions of 30m in diameter and c.3m in height. The mound is surrounded by a ditch from which material was quarried during the construction of the monument. This is no longer visible, having become infilled over the years, but it will survive as a buried feature c.3m wide. The barrow was partly excavated by Cunnington in 1882, when a cremation burial within an urn, a copper dagger, shale mace head, bronze ring and gold plate were all recovered. The excavations did not extend to the primary burial. The finds from the excavation are now held in the Dorset County Museum. Excluded from the scheduling are all fence posts relating to the modern field boundary, although the ground beneath 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:

28390

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset: Volume I, (1970), 471

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