Bowl barrow on St Catherine's Down, 680m north of lighthouse on St Catherine's Hill

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 on St Catherine's Down, 680m north of the lighthouse on St Catherine's Hill is a well preserved example of its class and will contain archaeological remains providing information about beliefs, economy and environment in the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age period.

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow, lying on the crest of St Catherine's Down 680m north of the lighthouse on St Catherine's Hill. The barrow includes a mound 17m in diameter and 1.5m high on the summit of which is a depression, possibly the result of unrecorded antiquarian excavation. Surrounding the mound is a ditch from which material for its construction was quarried. This is no longer visible on the surface but will survive as a buried feature 2m 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:

26846

Legacy System:

RSM

End of official list entry

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