Bowl barrow on Morden Heath, 282m north-east of Decoy House

Summary

Bowl barrow located on Morden Heath, most likely of Bronze Age date.

Reasons for Designation

The bowl barrow approximately 282m north-east of Decoy House, Morden Heath is scheduled for the following principal reasons:

* Survival: as a funerary monument which survives in the form of a well-defined earthwork.
* Potential: for the stratified archaeological deposits and environmental evidence relating to the monument, the individuals buried within it, and the landscape in which it was constructed.
* Period: bowl barrows are funerary monuments dating from the Late Neolithic period to the Late Bronze Age. The considerable variation in form and the longevity of the monument type provides important information on the diversity of beliefs, funerary practices and social organisation amongst prehistoric communities.

History

The treatment, burial and commemoration of the dead have been a distinctive part of human life for millennia, and these activities have often left physical remains. The remains of the dead have been dealt with in remarkably varied ways in the past and it appears that, in the prehistoric period especially, only a small proportion of the population received a burial which has left traces detectable using current methods. Round barrows are distinctive burial monuments which can represent both individual burials as well as larger burial groups. They are one of the main sources of information about life in this period.

The main period of round barrow construction occurred in the Early Bronze Age between about 2200-1500BC (a period when cremation succeeded inhumation as the primary burial rite), although Neolithic examples are known from as early as 3000BC. In general, they comprise a rounded earthen mound or stone cairn, the earthen examples usually having a surrounding ditch and occasionally an outer bank. They range greatly in size from just 5m in diameter to as much as 40m, with the mounds ranging from slight rises to as much as 4m in height. They occur either in isolation or grouped as cemeteries and often acted as a focus for burials in later periods.

The bowl barrow some 280m north-east of Decoy House on Morden Heath is not depicted on historic or modern Ordnance Survey maps, and was first recorded during scrub clearance in 1998. It is believed to be Bronze Age in origin, but no archaeological excavations are considered to have taken place. It was designated a scheduled monument in 2000.

Details

PRINCIPAL ELEMENTS: the monument includes the earthwork and buried remains of a bowl barrow, most likely of Bronze Age date. It is situated on a low ridge within an area of lowland heath.

DESCRIPTION: the barrow is defined as a roughly-circular mound measuring approximately 12m in diameter and formed probably from natural sand and flint gravel. Viewed from the north it stands about 1.5m high, but this is also approximately the height of the ridge from which it projects, and there is a slight rise, no more than 0.3m high, from the south. There is no evidence for a surrounding ditch from which the construction material was derived for the mound but this is likely to survive as a buried feature.

EXTENT OF SCHEDULING: the scheduled area includes an additional margin of 2m around the circumference of the barrow, considered to be essential for its support and preservation.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

33175

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Other
Historic England, November 2019, Bowl Barrow(s) on Morden Heath, Wareham St Martin, Dorset
Cornwall Archaeological Unit, February 2016, National Mapping Programme Mapping of Wild Purbeck, Historic England Project Number 6600

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