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Two bowl barrows 560m and 650m north west of Newlands Farm

A Scheduled Monument in West Lulworth,

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Coordinates

Latitude: 50.6309 / 50°37'51"N

Longitude: -2.277 / 2°16'37"W

OS Eastings: 380501.258

OS Northings: 81280.9619

OS Grid: SY805812

Mapcode National: GBR 10Q.759

Mapcode Global: FRA 673D.QQF

Entry Name: Two bowl barrows 560m and 650m north west of Newlands Farm

Scheduled Date: 19 March 1968

Last Amended: 19 March 1999

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1016432

English Heritage Legacy ID: 31916

Civil Parish: West Lulworth

Built-Up Area: West Lulworth

Traditional County: Dorset

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): Dorset

Church of England Parish: The Lulworths, Winfrith Newburgh and Chaldon

Church of England Diocese: Salisbury

Details

The monument, which falls into two areas of protection, includes two bowl
barrows aligned north east by south west, situated below the crest of a ridge
overlooking St Oswald's Bay to the south.
The barrows were recorded by the Ordnance Survey in 1903, L V Grinsell in
1959 and by the Royal Commission on the Historic Monuments (England) in 1970.
Each has a mound composed of earth and chalk, with maximum dimensions of
30m and 35m in diameter and about 0.5m in height. The larger mound is to the
west. Surrounding each mound is a ditch from which material was quarried
during the construction of the monument. These have become infilled over the
years, but each will survive as a buried feature 2m wide.
The western bowl barrow was partially excavated in 1916 by Mr V P Kitchin
and Captain D A Brownsword. Their investigation recovered an urn containing
the cremated remains of an adult woman. The urn was situated within a cavity
in natural clay with flints; it was surrounded by a lining of ash and lay
beneath a triangular flat stone which was associated with sheep bones.

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 some reduction by ploughing, the two bowl barrows 560m and 650m
north west of Newlands Farm survive comparatively well and partial excavation
of one of the barrows has demonstrated the presence of archaeological and
environmental evidence relating to the monument and the landscape in which it
was constructed.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset: Volume I, (1970), 445
Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset: Volume I, (1970), 446
Grinsell, L V, 'Procs Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Soc.' in Dorset Barrows, (1959), 140
Kitchin, V P, 'Proc Dorset Nat Hist Arch Soc' in The Opening Of A Round Barrow At West Lulworth in 1916, (1959), 92-3
Kitchin, V P, 'Proc Dorset Nat Hist Arch Soc' in The Opening Of A Round Barrow At West Lulworth in 1916, (1959), 92-3
Other
Mention 1903 Ordnance Survey Map,

Source: Historic England

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