Bowl barrow, 455m west of Brimble Pit Pool

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Overview

The earthwork and buried remains of a bowl barrow situated 455m west of Brimble Pit Pool. It is one of a group of three barrows.
Heritage Category:
Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:
1415590
Date first listed:
21-Aug-2013

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:
Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:
1415590
Date first listed:
21-Aug-2013
Location Description:
It is centred on NGR ST 50336 50796

Location

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

District:
Somerset (Unitary Authority)
Parish:
Westbury
National Grid Reference:
ST5033650796

Summary

The earthwork and buried remains of a bowl barrow situated 455m west of Brimble Pit Pool. It is one of a group of three barrows.

Reasons for Designation

The bowl barrow 455m west of Brimple Pit Pool is scheduled for the following principal reasons:

* Survival: it survives comparatively well as an earthwork and in the form of buried archaeological features;
* Group value: it forms a group with two other barrows;
* Potential: it will contribute to our understanding of the social organisation and burial practices of the country's Bronze Age population.

History

The main period of round barrow construction occurred in the Early Bronze Age between about 2200-1500 BC (a period when cremation succeeded inhumation as the primary burial rite), although Neolithic examples are known from as early as 3000 BC. These funerary monuments were constructed as earthen mounds, sometimes ditched, which covered single or multiple burials. They occur either in isolation or grouped as cemeteries and often acted as a focus of burials in later periods.

The bowl barrow (ST 50336 50796) approximately 455m west of Brimble Pit Pool and 257m north-east of the bell barrow known as Westbury Beacon is first depicted as a tumulus on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1903.

Details

Principal elements
The bowl barrow which dates from the Late Neolithic to the Late Bronze Age is situated on a prominent ridge of a south-facing Mendip escarpment.

Description
It survives as a sub-circular mound surrounded by a buried quarry ditch, some 2m wide, from which the construction material was derived. The mound measures approximately 11m in diameter and stands 0.6m high.

Extent of scheduling
The scheduling boundary around the bowl barrow includes a 2m margin for the support and protection of the monument.

Sources

Books and journals
Tratman, E K, Proceedings of the University of Bristol Spelaeological Society in Fieldwork, (1927), 284

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.

Ordnance survey map of Bowl barrow, 455m west of Brimble Pit Pool

Map

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 18-Jul-2026 at 16:04:15.

Download a full scale map (PDF)
© Crown copyright [and database rights] 2026. OS AC0000815036. Use of this mapping is subject to Terms and Conditions.

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.

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