Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow which forms an outlying part of the Newton
Barrows, a round barrow cemetery on Earls Farm Down located just north of a
dismantled railway line which forms the northern boundary of Boscombe Down
Airfield. The bowl barrow is situated 80m south east of the main core of the
cemetery and lies within the perimeter boundary of the airfield. The barrow
survives as a low mound 22m in diameter and 0.5m high surrounded by a ditch
from which material was quarried during its construction. This has become
infilled over the years but survives as a buried feature 2.5m wide, giving the
barrow an overall diameter of 27m. The ditch on the north side of the barrow
has been damaged by the cutting of the now dismantled Amesbury light railway.
An east to west track crosses the southern part of the barrow and the surface
of this together with all fence posts, service cables and signs are excluded
from the scheduling although 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

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 bowl barrow in Boscombe Down Airfield survives comparatively well and
forms an integral part of the round barrow cemetery on Earls Farm Down. It
will contain archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the
monument and the landscape in which it was constructed.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, LV, The Victoria History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume V, (1957), 152

Source: Historic England