Two bell barrows 820m south of Stonyford Pond

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

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1017551
Date first listed:: 01-Apr-1959

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1017551
Date first listed:: 01-Apr-1959
Date of most recent amendment:: 17-Dec-1992

Location

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

County:: Hampshire
District:: New Forest (District Authority)
Parish:: Denny Lodge
National Park:: NEW FOREST
National Grid Reference:: SU 41303 03152

Reasons for Designation

Bell barrows, the most visually impressive form of round barrow, are funerary monuments dating to the Early and Middle Bronze Age, with most examples belonging to the period 1500-1100 BC. They occur either in isolation or in round barrow cemeteries and were constructed as single or multiple mounds covering burials, often in pits, and surrounded by an enclosure ditch. The burials are frequently accompanied by weapons, personal ornaments and pottery and appear to be those of aristocratic individuals, usually men. Bell barrows (particularly multiple barrows) are rare nationally, with less than 250 known examples, most of which are in Wessex. Their richness in terms of grave goods provides evidence for chronological and cultural links amongst early prehistoric communities over most of southern and eastern England as well as providing an insight into their beliefs and social organisation. As a particularly rare form of round barrow, all identified bell barrows would normally be considered to be of national importance.

The two bell barrows 820m south of Stonyford Pond both have outer banks set around the external lip of their quarry ditches. These phenomena are rare within this class of monument. Furthermore, and despite evidence for partial excavation, the monument survives well within the New Forest, an area known to have been important in terms of lowland Bronze Age occupation. A considerable amount of archaeological evidence has survived in this area because of a lack of agricultural activity, the result of later climatic deterioration, development of heath and the establishment of a Royal Forest.

Details

This monument includes two bell barrows situated on lowland heath. The southern barrow mound measures 16m in diameter and stands up to 1.4m high. Surrounding the mound is a level berm or platform, surviving to an average width of 2.2m, a ditch, from which material was quarried during the construction of the barrow, and an outer bank. The ditch has become partly infilled over the years, but survives as a slight earthwork 2m wide and 0.8m deep; the bank is 2.7m wide and 0.4m high. The overall diameter of this barrow is 35m. The northern barrow mound measures 14m in diameter and stands up to 1.5m high. Surrounding the mound is a berm, which has an average width of 1m, a ditch, which is 2m wide and 0.5m deep, and an outer bank 3.5m wide and 0.4m high. The overall diameter of this barrow is 33m. Both barrow mounds have evidence for partial excavation or robbing in the form of a slight hollow in the mound centre.

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:: 20261
Legacy System:: RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, L V, 'Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club' in Hampshire Barrows, , Vol. 14, (1938), 211
Other
Darvill, T C, Monument Class Description - Bell Barrows, 1989,

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.