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The Icen Barrow on Creech Heath, forming part of the Creech Heath round barrow cemetery

A Scheduled Monument in Church Knowle, Dorset

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Coordinates

Latitude: 50.6542 / 50°39'15"N

Longitude: -2.112 / 2°6'43"W

OS Eastings: 392178.951601

OS Northings: 83842.074613

OS Grid: SY921838

Mapcode National: GBR 336.T0P

Mapcode Global: FRA 67GB.WHT

Entry Name: The Icen Barrow on Creech Heath, forming part of the Creech Heath round barrow cemetery

Scheduled Date: 31 May 1961

Last Amended: 10 April 1996

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1014139

English Heritage Legacy ID: 28316

County: Dorset

Civil Parish: Church Knowle

Traditional County: Dorset

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): Dorset

Church of England Parish: Wareham Lady St Mary

Church of England Diocese: Salisbury

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow situated on Creech Heath in the Isle of
Purbeck, overlooking the Purbeck Hills to the south. It is one of five round
barrows which together make up the Creech Heath round barrow cemetery.
The barrow has a mound composed of earth, sand and turf with a maximum
diameter of 18m and maximum height of c.0.5m. This is surrounded by a ditch
from which material was quarried during the construction of the monument. The
ditch has become infilled over the years, but will survive as a buried feature
2m wide.

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.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

Round barrow cemeteries date to the Bronze Age (c.2000-700 BC). They comprise
closely-spaced groups of up to 30 round barrows - rubble or earthen mounds
covering single or multiple burials. Most cemeteries developed over a
considerable period of time, often many centuries, and in some cases acted as
a focus for burials as late as the early medieval period. They exhibit
considerable diversity of burial rite, plan and form, frequently including
several different types of round barrow, occasionally associated with earlier
long barrows. Where large scale investigation has been undertaken around them,
contemporary or later "flat" burials between the barrow mounds have often been
revealed. Round barrow cemeteries occur across most of lowland Britain, with a
marked concentration in Wessex. In some cases, they are clustered around other
important contemporary monuments such as henges. Often occupying prominent
locations, they are a major historic element in the modern landscape, whilst
their diversity and their longevity as a monument type provide important
information on the variety of beliefs and social organisation amongst early
prehistoric communities. They are particularly representative of their period
and a substantial proportion of surviving or partly-surviving examples are
considered worthy of protection.

The Icen Barrow on Creech Heath survives well and will contain archaeological
and environmental evidence relating to the cemetery and the landscape in which
it was constructed.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
Mention Bronze Age urn,

Source: Historic England

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