Disc barrow 310m east of the Club House on Petersfield Heath Common, part of the Petersfield Heath Group

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.

Disc barrows, the most fragile type of round barrow, date mostly to the period 1400-1200BC, the Early Bronze Age. They are rare nationally with about 250 known examples, most of which are in Wessex. The disc barrow on Petersfield Heath Common 310m east of the Club House survives particularly well despite some later disturbance caused by the modern use of the area as a public recreation ground. It is also an unusual example of its type, having its ditch outside the bank rather than inside. This and the other barrows in the group can be expected to retain important archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the cemetery and the environment in which it was constructed.

Details

The monument includes a disc barrow of Bronze Age date situated on low lying ground at the north eastern end of Petersfield Heath Common. It forms part of a round barrow cemetery situated east of Heath Pond, known as the Petersfield Heath Group. Now comprising a total of 21 barrows, a first edition Ordnance Survey map dated to 1810 indicates that this round barrow cemetery was formerly more extensive, including further barrows situated to the north and east, now destroyed by modern housing. The barrow includes two mounds positioned on a low circular platform, approximately 29m in diameter, surrounded, unusually, by a bank and shallow outer ditch. The smaller of the two mounds, approximately 0.35m high and 14m in diameter, stands roughly at the centre of the central platform. The higher mound, about 0.9m high and 12m in diameter, overlaps it to the west. Both mounds are roughly circular in shape. The prominent bank is approximately 6m wide and stands 0.4m high above the interior platform and 0.6m above the outer ditch. The ditch is partly infilled and is now only apparent to the south and west as a shallow depression, approximately 2m wide and 0.1m deep.

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:

32529

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, L V, Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club in Hampshire Barrows, Vol. 14, (1939)

End of official list entry

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