Bell barrow on Teglease Down

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

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1017890
Date first listed:: 17-Jan-1961

The Missing Pieces Project

Share your view of unique places. Almost 350,000 photos and stories have been added so far.

Add your contribution

Location

Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.

There is a problem

Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions.

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.

What is the National Heritage List for England?

The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.

The list includes:

🏠 Buildings
🏰 Scheduled monuments
🌳 Parks and gardens
⚔️ Battlefields
⚓ Shipwrecks

Find out more about listing

Local Heritage Hub

Unlock and explore hidden histories, aerial photography, and listed buildings and places for every county, district, city and major town across England.

Discover more

Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1017890
Date first listed:: 17-Jan-1961
Date of most recent amendment:: 10-Jun-1998

Location

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

County:: Hampshire
District:: Winchester (District Authority)
Parish:: Hambledon
National Park:: SOUTH DOWNS
National Grid Reference:: SU 66133 19555

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 bell barrow on Teglease Down survives well despite some disturbance by subequent ploughing and is likely to retain archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to its use and the landscape in which it was constructed. This is the only extant barrow of an original group of four.

Details

The monument includes a bell barrow constructed on gently sloping ground on a broad chalk spur at the north east margin of Teglease Down. The monument is roughly circular and includes a central mound, approximately 1.2m high, surrounded by a flat or gently sloping berm, 1m-2m wide, which has been partly levelled where the barrow has been disturbed by ploughing on the north east side. The average diameter of the mound and berm is about 21m. A ditch approximately 1.5m wide and 0.15m deep survives as an infilled feature on the north west side, further unsurveyable traces of which surround the barrow mound. The barrow is slightly flattened on top, a report of 1979 recording an exposed stony core.

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:: 31154
Legacy System:: RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, L V, 'Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club' in Hampshire Barrows, , Vol. 14, (1940), 358
Other
AM description, Simms, R, AM7, (1960)

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.