Two bowl barrows on South Heath, 900m SSE of The Bungalow

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.

Despite some disturbance by military training activities, the two bowl barrows on South Heath survive well and will contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to the monument and the landscape in which it was constructed.

Details

The monument includes two bowl barrows situated on South Heath, on an east- facing slope, overlooking the Piddle Valley to the north east and Frome Valley to the south east. The barrows, which are aligned north west by south east, each have a mound composed of sand, gravel and turf, with maximum dimensions of 14m-18m in diameter and 1.8m-2m in height. Both barrows have a cut through the top of the mound; these features represent tank tracks and relate to former military training activities. Each mound is surrounded by a ditch from which material was quarried during the construction of the monument. The ditches have become infilled over the years, but will survive as buried features 1.5m 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:

28335

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Other
RCHME, National Monuments Record,

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