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Group of six bowl barrows, forming a round barrow cemetery on Black Hill

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1015897
Date first listed:: 05-Oct-1959

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1015897
Date first listed:: 05-Oct-1959
Date of most recent amendment:: 21-Jul-1997

Location

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

District:: Dorset (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Affpuddle and Turnerspuddle
District:: Dorset (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Bere Regis
National Grid Reference:: SY 83667 94029, SY 83719 94113, SY 83780 93956, SY 83989 94224

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.

The group of six bowl barrows forming a round barrow cemetery on Black Hill survive well and will contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to the monument and the landscape in which it was constructed.

Details

The monument, which falls into four separate areas, includes a group of six bowl barrows aligned broadly north east by south west, and situated on a plateau known as Black Hill, overlooking the Piddle Valley to the south and the Bere Valley to the north east. The barrows each have a mound composed of sand, earth and turf; these have maximum dimensions which range between 12m-16m in diameter and c.0.9m-1.5m in height. Surrounding each mound is a ditch from which material was quarried during the construction of the monument. The ditches have become infilled over the years, but each will survive as a buried feature 1.5m 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:: 29050
Legacy System:: RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset: Volume I, (1970), 454
Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset: Volume I, (1970), 454
Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset: Volume I, (1970), 454
Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset: Volume I, (1970), 454
Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset: Volume I, (1970), 454

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 Culture, Media and Sport.