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Bowl barrow 400m north-west of Aldbourne Warren Farm

A Scheduled Monument in Aldbourne, Wiltshire

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Coordinates

Latitude: 51.4999 / 51°29'59"N

Longitude: -1.663 / 1°39'46"W

OS Eastings: 423486.045267

OS Northings: 177940.888905

OS Grid: SU234779

Mapcode National: GBR 5XJ.SFN

Mapcode Global: VHC1B.4K5J

Entry Name: Bowl barrow 400m north-west of Aldbourne Warren Farm

Scheduled Date: 10 March 1925

Last Amended: 18 January 1991

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1013050

English Heritage Legacy ID: 12179

County: Wiltshire

Civil Parish: Aldbourne

Traditional County: Wiltshire

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): Wiltshire

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow set above the floor of a dry valley
immediately to the south of Sugar Hill. The barrow mound stands to a
height of 1.5m and is 40m in diameter. Although no longer visible at
ground level, a ditch from which the mound material was quarried,
surrounds the mound. This has filled in over the years and now
survives as a buried feature c.5m wide. The site was partially
excavated by Canon Greenwell, a prolific excavator of barrows, between
1885 and 1890. Finds included a central cist or stone-lined box
containing a cremation burial accompanied by a dagger.

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

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.

Despite partial excavation of the Aldbourne Warren Farm barrow, much
of the monument remains intact, including ditch deposits and the
buried land surface. It therefore has significant archaeological
potential, particularly for the recovery of environmental evidence.
The importance of the site is enhanced by the fact that numerous
barrow mounds and additional evidence for contemporary settlement
survive in the area. These give an indication of the extent to which
the area was settled during the Bronze Age period.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Greenwell, Canon, 'Archaeologia' in Archaeologia (Volume 52), , Vol. 52, (1890), 57

Source: Historic England

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