Bowl barrow on Ibsley Common, 670m north west of North Hollow Bridge

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 Ibsley Common, 670m north west of North Hollow Bridge, survives well despite some later disturbance caused by its part excavation and the modern use of the common as a World War II aerodrome. It forms part of a widely spaced group of at least 15 round barrows situated on Ibsley Common. Part excavation has shown that it retains archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the monument and the landscape in which it was constructed.

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow of Late Neolithic or Bronze Age date, situated on high ground at the heel of a slight east facing spur projecting from the eastern edge of a gravel plateau on Ibsley Common. This flat plateau, which covers an area of approximately 240ha, is also the site of a later, World War II aerodrome, for which some associated structural and earthwork remains survive, and at least 15 further round barrows, all of which are situated near the sharp upper edges of the central plateau or on subsidiary spurs. These are the subject of separate schedulings. The monument includes a flat topped, circular mound, 9m in diameter and approximately 0.45m high, constructed on a slight slope. No visible trace of a surrounding ditch survives, but part excavation in 1917 indicated the presence of a shallow quarry ditch, 1m wide, extending around the mound as a buried feature. The excavations indicated that this ditch would have provided clayey, stony material for the mound's outer covering over a core of compacted, white clayey sand brought in from elsewhere. Within the mound's core, just west of centre, the excavations revealed an oblong, north-south oriented void, possibly for an inhumation burial, filled with ferruginous clay and gravel resting directly on the undisturbed subsoil. Excavations of five other barrows on Ibsley Common have revealed a similar void at the centre of one mound and Bronze Age funerary urns containing burnt human bone and other material at the centres of three others. The urns and other materials recovered from these excavations are now held at the Salisbury Museum.

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:

31176

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Other
Sumner, H, Local Papers (Excavation of barrows on Ibsley Common), (1931)

End of official list entry

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