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Bowl barrow in Brighstone Forest: 1.3km north east of Coombe Farm

A Scheduled Monument in Brighstone, Isle of Wight

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Coordinates

Latitude: 50.6617 / 50°39'42"N

Longitude: -1.3862 / 1°23'10"W

OS Eastings: 443478.701744

OS Northings: 84850.558248

OS Grid: SZ434848

Mapcode National: GBR 8BS.JB2

Mapcode Global: FRA 77ZB.9RC

Entry Name: Bowl barrow in Brighstone Forest: 1.3km north east of Coombe Farm

Scheduled Date: 11 July 1994

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1007803

English Heritage Legacy ID: 21983

County: Isle of Wight

Civil Parish: Brighstone

Traditional County: Hampshire

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): Isle of Wight

Church of England Parish: Brighstone

Church of England Diocese: Portsmouth

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow set on the north edge of a plateau within
the area of Brighstone Forest.
The barrow has a mound 13.4m in diameter and 1.5m high surrounded by a
ditch from which material was quarried during its construction. This has
become infilled over the years and can no longer be seen at ground level, but
survives as a buried feature c.2m wide.
There is a central depression in the top of the barrow mound indicative of an
antiquarian excavation.

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 evidence for partial excavation the bowl barrow in Brighstone Forest
survives comparatively well and will contain archaeological remains and
environmental evidence relating to the barrow and the landscape in which it
was constructed. This is one of a number of barrows which survive in
Brighstone Forest.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
'Proceedings of the I.O.W. Nat History and Archaeological Soc' in Proceedings of the I.O.W. Nat History and Archaeological Soc, , Vol. 3, (1940), 205

Source: Historic England

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