Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow situated on a south facing ridge.
The barrow, which was recorded by the Royal Commission on the Historical
Monuments of England in 1970, has a mound composed of earth and chalk, with
maximum dimensions of 19m in diameter and about 0.6m in height. Surrounding
the mound is a ditch from which material was quarried during the construction
of the monument. This has become infilled over the years, but will survive as
a buried feature 2m wide.
The barrow is situated within a wider field system which is likely to have
prehistoric origins. In 1970 two field banks were recorded in association with
the barrow mound, but these have since been reduced by ploughing. The field
system is not included in the scheduling.

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 bowl barrow 75m south east of Laycock
Dairy Farm survives comparatively well and 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
Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset: Volume I, (1970), 231

Source: Historic England