Details

The monument includes three Bronze Age bowl barrows situated to the south of
Hatt House on Oolitic limestone, south of the village of Box.
The barrows are set below the crest of the north east facing slope of a steep
river valley. Two of the barrows are buried beneath the spoil of a covered
reservoir and are no longer visible. Previous records show that these are flat
topped, 2.5m high and up to 8.5m in diameter. A third bowl barrow to the north
east has a mound 20m in diameter and 2.5m high surrounded by a ditch from
which material was quarried during its construction. This has been partially
infilled over the years and survives as a low earthwork, 5m wide and up to
0.5m deep apart from on the north side where it survives as a buried feature.
To the north west the ditch extends at a tangent to the barrow in a north
easterly direction for 2m.
There is a local tradition in Box that there are three kings buried in these
barrows.

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.

The visible bowl barrow at Hatt House survives well. It is a large, clearly
defined example of this type of monument. The two beneath the modern reservoir
mound are likely to have been sealed with earth and to survive intact. There
is no record of these barrows having been opened. All three will contain
archaeological and environmental evidence relating to the monument and the
landscape in which it was constructed.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, L V, 'The Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine' in Archaeological Gazeteer, , Vol. 1, (1957), 161

Source: Historic England