Details

The monument includes a twin bowl barrow of Late Neolithic to Bronze Age date
situated on low lying ground at the eastern edge of Petersfield Heath Common.
It forms part of a round barrow cemetery east of Heath Pond, known as the
Petersfield Heath Group. Now comprising 21 barrows, a first edition Ordnance
Survey map dated to 1810 indicates that this round barrow cemetery was
formerly more extensive, including further barrows situated to the north and
east, now destroyed by modern housing.
The twin barrow is oval shaped, oriented north-south, and measures
approximately 40m by 25m in diameter. It includes two, overlapping central
mounds. The southern mound stands about 1m high; the northern mound is
slightly lower and stands about 0.7m high. The barrow has been lowered and
spread by later tree-fall damage. Although no longer visible at ground level a
ditch, from which material was taken for the barrow's construction, will
surround the mound. This has become infilled over the years but will survive
as a buried feature approximately 2m wide.

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.

Bowl barrows are the most numerous form of round barrow and date from the Late
Neolithic period to the Late Bronze Age, with most examples belonging to the
period 2400-1500BC.
The twin bowl barrow on Petersfield Heath Common 325m south east of the Club
House survives reasonably well despite some later disturbance by rabbits and
tree roots and the modern use of the area as a public recreation ground. This
and the other barrows in the group can be expected to retain important
archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the cemetery and
the environment in which it was constructed.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, L V, 'Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club' in Hampshire Barrows, , Vol. 14, (1939)

Source: Historic England