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Bowl barrow in The Belt, 350m north east of Hill Barn

A Scheduled Monument in West Overton, Wiltshire

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Coordinates

Latitude: 51.4072 / 51°24'25"N

Longitude: -1.804 / 1°48'14"W

OS Eastings: 413731.945

OS Northings: 167589.344

OS Grid: SU137675

Mapcode National: GBR 4X5.LRT

Mapcode Global: VHB45.PW5N

Entry Name: Bowl barrow in The Belt, 350m north east of Hill Barn

Scheduled Date: 9 October 1981

Last Amended: 9 April 2001

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1019901

English Heritage Legacy ID: 33958

County: Wiltshire

Civil Parish: West Overton

Traditional County: Wiltshire

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): Wiltshire

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow situated on the upper north western
slopes of White Hill overlooking the Kennet valley. The barrow mound is
circular in plan, a maximum of 27.5m in diameter and survives to a height of
1.3m. A ditch, from which material was excavated for the monument's
construction, surrounds the mound. This has become infilled over the years but
survives as a buried feature about 2m wide.
All fences are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath them
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

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 bowl barrow in The Belt, 350m north east of Hill Barn survives as a
substantial earthwork which will retain archaeological information pretaining
to its construction and use. In addition, the old land surface sealed beneath
the mound and the fill of the encircling ditch are likely to contain
environmental evidence relating to the landscape in which the barrow was
constructed.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
English Heritage, SU16 NW63, (1974)
Holyoak, V M, Photos showing disturbed bones adjacent to sett on E of SM33958, (2000)
Wiltshire County Council, SU16 NW654,

Source: Historic England

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