Bowl barrow 820m ESE of Woolmer Pond Cottage

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 bowl barrow situated 820m ESE of Woolmer Pond Cottage survives well despite some later disturbance and can be expected to retain archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the monument and the environment in which it was constructed. The monument is closely associated with a number of other round barrow cemeteries and barrow groups within the area of Woolmer Forest which together constitute a particularly well-preserved ritual landscape of the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age periods.

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow of Late Neolithic or Bronze Age date, prominently situated on a flat-topped, sandy ridge in Woolmer Forest, overlooking Brimstone Inclosure and Queen's Bank to the north east. It is one of a large number of isolated barrows, barrow groups and round barrow cemeteries located in and around Woolmer Forest, some of which are the subject of separate schedulings. The barrow includes a steep-sided, roughly circular mound, 22m in diameter and 2.5m high. It has been damaged by the later excavation of a slit trench, north-south, across the centre of the mound and is clipped by another trench on the western side and by an earthen bank to the east. There is no trace of a surrounding quarry ditch, although such a ditch, from which material would have been obtained for the mound's construction, can be expected to survive as a buried feature, now infilled by the later use of the monument. Further buried remains associated with the original construction and use of the barrow, including burials, grave pits, burial goods, and the original ground surface can be expected to survive beneath 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:

34146

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
White, G, The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne, (1875), 462

End of official list entry

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