Two bowl barrows and two ring ditches 450m north west of Haywards 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 two bowl barrows and two ring ditches 450m north west of Haywards Farm are part of a dispersed cluster of similar monuments on the ridge and will contain archaeological deposits providing information about Bronze Age funerary practices, economy and environment.

Details

The monument, which falls into four separate areas of protection, includes two bowl barrows and two other probable bowl barrows which are visible as ring ditches on aerial photographs, on a low ridge below Milborne Down 450m north west of Haywards Farm. The barrows form part of a group of five similar monuments of which four can now be identified. The two bowl barrows which are situated to the north, each have a mound 20m in diameter and up to 0.7m high each surrounded by a quarry ditch from which material used for their construction was derived. These ditches have become infilled over the years, but will survive as buried features up to 3m wide. The two ring ditches were recorded by the Ordnance Survey in 1981 and are known to have diameters of 20m including the ditch. A fifth barrow shown on Ordnance Survey drawings of 1805 and 1811 may have existed previously but, as it is not visible on aerial photographs and can no longer be verified on the ground, it is not included in the scheduling. Three unlocated barrows on the lower part of Milborne Down were excavated by Charles Warne in the mid-19th century and it is possible that this excavation refers to this group of barrows. The investigations revealed in three seperate barrows: a primary cremation in an urn placed in a cist, a primary inhumation of an adult on a sandstone paved floor with a secondary inhumation of an infant, and a primary inhumation covered by a cairn with three subsequent inhumations placed in the cairn and a secondary cremation in the mound.

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:

33547

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, L V, Procs Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Soc. in Dorset Barrows, (1959), 120

End of official list entry

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