Pair of bowl barrows 1050m NNW of Pertwood Wood

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

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1019739
Date first listed:: 14-Jul-1955

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1019739
Date first listed:: 14-Jul-1955
Date of most recent amendment:: 19-Sep-2001

Location

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

District:: Wiltshire (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Sutton Veny
National Grid Reference:: ST 89104 38227

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.

Despite some years of ploughing, the bowl barrows 1050m NNW of Pertwood Wood survive comparatively well and will contain archaeological and environmental remains relating to the monument and the landscape in which it was constructed.

Details

The monument includes a pair of bowl barrows situated on the south facing slope of a small dry valley to the north of Pertwood Wood. The valley is cut into Upper Chalk on the high ground south of the Wylye valley. The barrows have been spread by ploughing but are still visible as circular mounds. The mound to the west is 0.3m high and 22m in diameter while that to the east is 0.3m high and 21m in diameter. Both are surrounded by ditches from which material was quarried during their construction. These have become infilled but will survive as buried features about 3m wide. A further barrow to the north west is the subject of a separate scheduling.

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:: 34212
Legacy System:: RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, L V, The Victoria History of the County of Wiltshire, (1957), 192
Grinsell, L V, The Victoria History of the County of Wiltshire, (1957), 192

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.