Round barrow cemetery beside Seymour Road

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.

The round barrow cemetery beside Seymour Road survives comparatively well despite some later disturbance and can be expected to retain archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the monument and the landscape in which it was constructed. It now provides a conspicuous and well used public amenity within Basingstoke and has been the subject of an aerial photographs analysed by the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England.

Details

The monument includes a round barrow cemetery situated along the brow of a north west facing chalk slope, now occupying the site of a public green within a housing estate off Seymour Road and Challis Close, Basingstoke. Originally considered to be a long barrow, the monument has been reinterpreted as a row of five confluent round barrows enclosed by a `U' shaped ditch and bordered by four contiguous round barrows. The group of five confluent barrows now survives as a long, low mound, approximately 40m long by a maximum 24m wide, standing up to 0.8m high. The tops of four of the confluent barrows are visible along the crest of the mound; the fifth appears to underlie and extend east of the paved footpath which now crosses the monument. No trace is visible of the `U' shaped ditch or the four contiguous round barrows, though the ditch and other remains are likely to survive as buried features. The paved footpath that crosses the monument is excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath it 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:

31170

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Smith, I F, Long Barrows in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, (1979), xxxiii
Grinsell, L V, Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club in Hampshire Barrows, Vol. 14, (1938), 198

End of official list entry

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