Two bowl barrows and later earthwork features on Long Knoll, 760m south of Manor 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.

The bowl barrows on Long Knoll, 760m south of Manor Farm, are comparatively well preserved examples of their class and will contain archaeological deposits providing information about Bronze Age beliefs, economy and environment. The parish boundary earthwork demonstrates the use of the earlier barrow mounds as prominent sighting points within the landscape and may reflect a long established boundary.

Details

The monument includes two bowl barrows, aligned north-south, one later encircled by a possible tree planting earthwork, together with a section of parish boundary bank and ditch. The monument lies on the highest point of the narrow ridge known as Long Knoll, 760m south of Manor Farm. The surviving earthworks suggest that there were originally two small bowl barrows, the northern example approximately 12m in diameter, the southern approximately 10m. The mounds of both will be surrounded by quarry ditches, from which material for their construction would have been quarried. These have become infilled but will survive as buried features about 2m wide. The parish boundary bank and ditch which runs in an east-west direction along the spine of the ridge has truncated the southern side of the northern barrow. Subsequent to this both barrow mounds appear to have been partly excavated as both exhibit disturbance to the central part of their mounds. This may be the result of investigations carried out by Sir Richard Colt Hoare in the early 19th century when one barrow was recorded as having `once contained a skeleton'. Pottery and coins suggesting Roman activity in the vicinity were also recovered. The southern barrow mound appears, at a later date, to have been encircled by a comparatively slight ditch and bank, each approximately 1m wide. These may represent the earthworks of a formal tree planting. A triangulation pillar is positioned on the northern side of the southern barrow mound. All fence posts and the triangulation pillar are excluded from the scheduling although the ground beneath these features is included.

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:

26828

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Colt Hoare, R, The Ancient History of Wiltshire: Volume I, (1812), 42

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.