Scheduled Monument: TWO BOWL BARROWS ON CONYGAR HILL (SM33179)

DESCRIPTION OF THE MONUMENT The monument, which falls into two separate areas of protection, includes two bowl barrows aligned east-west on Conygar Hill, with views across the Frome Valley to the north. The barrows, which were recorded by the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England in 1970, each have a mound composed of earth and chalk, with maximum dimensions of 29m and 30m in diameter respectively and about 3m in height. Each mound is surrounded by 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 3m wide.The barrows were partially excavated by E Cunnington in the late 19th century. The eastern barrow was found to contain a primary contracted inhumation burial associated with a food vessel and six flint arrowheads. Three secondary cremations associated with a bucket urn lay above a large block of Portland limestone. The western barrow contained an inhumation and cremation burials. The finds are now held at the Dorset County Museum. All fence posts are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath them is included. ASSESSMENT OF IMPORTANCE 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 ploughing around the periphery of the barrow mounds, the two bowl barrows on Conygar Hill survive particularly well and are known from partial excavation to contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to the monument and the landscape in which it was constructed.

Record last edited

Nov 7 2012 2:15PM