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Bowl barrow 800m east of Gourd's Farm

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

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1013742
Date first listed:: 17-Feb-1961

User submitted image — Uploaded by Richard Ley This photo may not represent the current condition of the site
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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1013742
Date first listed:: 17-Feb-1961
Date of most recent amendment:: 28-Apr-1996

Location

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

District:: Dorset (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Compton Abbas
National Grid Reference:: ST 88512 18938

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 800m east of Gourd's Farm on Compton Down is a comparatively well preserved example of its type, the mound preserving buried deposits which will contain archaeological remains, providing information about Bronze Age burial practices, economy and environment. The monument is unusual for the chalk areas of southern Britain in that it does not appear to have a ditch.

Details

The monument includes the remains of a bowl barrow 800m east of Gourd's Farm, situated in a prominent position, on Compton Down. The barrow has a mound 15m north-south by 11m east-west and 0.6m high. The elongated shape is the result of ploughing which has eroded the east and west sides of the mound. A geophysical survey carried out on and around the barrow by Geophysical Surveys of Bradford for AC Archaeology indicated that there was no ditch surrounding 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:: 27345
Legacy System:: RSM

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.