Bowl barrow 360m south 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.

Despite some reduction by ploughing, the bowl barrow 360m south west of Clandon Farm survives comparatively 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. The double ditch associated with the barrow represents an unusual feature.

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow situated on a chalk ridge, overlooking the Frome Valley to the north and the South Winterborne Valley to the south. The barrow has a mound composed of earth, chalk and flint with maximum dimensions of 38m in diameter and c.0.65m in height. The mound is known from aerial photographs to be associated with a double ditch from which material was quarried during the construction of the monument. These ditches are no longer visible, as they have become infilled over the years and covered by the mound which has been spread, both will survive as buried features c.3m wide, beneath the spread of the mound. The barrow was partly excavated by E Cunnington in 1883, when Beaker pottery, three cremation burials and ten inhumation burials were recovered.

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:

28391

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

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

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