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Three bowl barrows 350m north of The Avenue forming part of a linear round barrow cemetery known as the Old King Barrows

A Scheduled Monument in Durrington, Wiltshire

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Coordinates

Latitude: 51.1846 / 51°11'4"N

Longitude: -1.8066 / 1°48'23"W

OS Eastings: 413613.507861

OS Northings: 142831.847173

OS Grid: SU136428

Mapcode National: GBR 4ZW.L2P

Mapcode Global: VHB5B.MHS8

Entry Name: Three bowl barrows 350m north of The Avenue forming part of a linear round barrow cemetery known as the Old King Barrows

Scheduled Date: 10 March 1925

Last Amended: 24 April 1995

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1012379

English Heritage Legacy ID: 10445

County: Wiltshire

Civil Parish: Durrington

Traditional County: Wiltshire

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): Wiltshire

Church of England Parish: Amesbury St Mary and St Melor

Church of England Diocese: Salisbury

Details

The monument includes three bowl barrows located 350m north of The Avenue
forming part of a linear round barrow cemetery known as the Old King Barrows.
The barrows, which are aligned south west-north east, are situated on a ridge
which has views westwards towards Stonehenge. These bowl barrows are three of
the nine forming the Old King Barrows cemetery.

The mound of the southern barrow is 1.5m high and 24m in diameter. The mound
of the northern barrow is 1.75m high and 18m in diameter. The central barrow
is now difficult to identify on the ground, having been levelled by
cultivation, but it is visible on aerial photographs from which its overall
diameter is calculated to be c.20m. All three barrow mounds are surrounded by
ditches from which material was quarried during their construction. These have
become infilled over the years but survive as buried features ranging from
2m to 2.5m wide, giving overall diameters ranging from c.20m to c.29m.

The east-west track which crosses the monument is included in the scheduling.
All fence posts are excluded from the scheduling but the ground beneath these
features is included.

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

A small number of areas in southern England appear to have acted as foci for
ceremonial and ritual activity during the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods.
Two of the best known and earliest recognised areas are around Avebury and
Stonehenge, now jointly designated as a World Heritage Site.
The area of chalk downland which surrounds Stonehenge contains one of the
densest and most varied groups of Neolithic and Bronze Age field monuments in
Britain. Included within the area are Stonehenge itself, the Stonehenge
cursus, the Durrington Walls henge, and a variety of burial monuments, many
grouped into cemeteries.
The area has been the subject of archaeological research since the 18th
century when Stukeley recorded many of the monuments and partially excavated a
number of the burial mounds. More recently, the collection of artefacts from
the surfaces of ploughed fields has supplemented the evidence for ritual and
burial by revealing the intensity of contemporary settlement and land-use. In
view of the importance of the area, all ceremonial and sepulchral monuments of
this period which retain significant archaeological remains are identified as
nationally important.
Round barrow cemeteries date to the Bronze Age (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 and occasionally associated with
earlier long barrows. Where investigation beyond the round barrows has
occurred, contemporary or later 'flat' burials between the barrow mounds have
often been revealed. Round barrow cemeteries occur across most of lowland
England with a marked concentration in Wessex. In some cases they are
clustered around other important contemporary monuments, as is the case both
here and at Avebury. Often occupying prominent positions, they are a major
historic element in the modern landscape, while their diversity and their
longevity as a monument type provide important information on the variety of
beliefs and social organisation amongst early prehistoric communities.


Bowl barrows, the most numerous form of round barrow, are funerary monuments
dating from the Late Neolithic period to the Late Bronze Age. They were
constructed as earthen or rubble mounds, normally ditched, which covered
single or multiple burials. Often superficially similar, although differing
widely in size, they exhibit regional variations in form and a variety of
burial practices. The burials, either inhumations or cremations, are
sometimes accompanied by pottery vessels, tools and personal ornaments. There
are over 10,000 surviving bowl barrows recorded nationally and at least 320 in
the Stonehenge area.

Two of the three bowl barrows 350m north of the Avenue survive comparatively
well and will contain archaeological remains and environmental evidence
relating to the monument and the landscape in which it was constructed.
Although the central bowl barrow has been levelled by cultivation, aerial
photographs have shown that the ditch fills survive undisturbed, while
deposits located on the Bronze Age ground surface will survive beneath the
area disturbed by cultivation.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, LV, The Victoria History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume V, (1957), 150
Grinsell, LV, The Victoria History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume V, (1957), 151
Hoare, R C, Ancient History of Wiltshire, (1812), 157
Other
CM121, Cambridge University Collection,

Source: Historic England

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