Bowl barrow 730m south of Greater Lane Farm

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.

Despite evidence for disturbance the bowl barrow 730m south of Greater Lane Farm is a well preserved example of its class which will contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to both the landscape and burial practice in the later prehistoric period. The position of the barrow at the bottom of a valley is unusual for this type of monument.

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow situated in Luccombe Bottom, a small dry valley cut into Lower Chalk on the northern edge of Salisbury Plain south of the village of Edington. The barrow lies on the gentle south west facing slope of the valley floor immediately above a sharp drop to the valley of the Stradbrook to the west. The mound of the barrow is 9.2m in diameter and 0.75m high. There are two depressions in the surface of the mound which are interpreted as chalk diggings or early attempts at excavation. Surrounding the mound is a ditch 2.5m wide and 0.25m deep from which material was quarried during its construction. A single sarsen stone 0.8m high which lies in the ditch on the north west side is known locally as the `Bloodstone'. Two other bowl barrows also in Luccombe Bottom are the subject of separate schedulings (SM 31696 and SM 31698).

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:

31697

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, L V, The Victoria History of the County of Wiltshire, (1957), 174

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