Bowl barrow 630m north east of Wick Bottom Barn

Overview

Heritage Category: Scheduled Monument

List Entry Number: 1015803

Date first listed: 09-Apr-1957

Date of most recent amendment: 21-Feb-1997

Location

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

National Grid Reference: SU 15015 73738

Summary

Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.

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 630m north east of Wick Bottom Barn has been reduced by cultivation over the years but will retain evidence for its construction and use.

History

Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow visible as a low earthwork in an area of undulating chalk downland. The barrow mound was recorded as being 30m across and 1.3m high in 1955 with a hollow in the centre suggesting part excavation had occurred. It is now 22m across and 0.3m high. Surrounding the mound and surviving as a buried feature is a 2m wide quarry ditch from which material was taken for the construction of the monument. Middle Bronze Age pottery has been found on the south and west sides of the mound.

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: 30453

Legacy System: RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Passmore, A D, 'Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine' in Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine, , Vol. 42, (1922), 182

Legal

This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.