Scheduled Monument: Bowl barrow 200m south of Winterbourne Poor Lot forming part of the Winterbourne Poor Lot round barrow cemetery (SM22970)

EXTRACT FROM ENGLISH HERITAGE'S RECORD OF SCHEDULED MONUMENTS MONUMENT: Bowl barrow 200m south of Winterbourne Poor Lot forming part of the Winterbourne Poor Lot round barrow cemetery PARISH: LITTLEBREDY DISTRICT: WEST DORSET COUNTY: DORSET NATIONAL MONUMENT NO: 22970 NATIONAL GRID REFERENCE(S): SY58929043 DESCRIPTION OF THE MONUMENT The monument includes a bowl barrow situated on the lower part of a north facing slope of the South Dorset Downs, overlooking the South Winterbourne Valley to the north east and the Winterbourne Poor Lot cemetery to the north. The barrow forms an eastern outlier of the Winterbourne Poor Lot cemetery and it is intervisible with many of the barrows to the north and west. The barrow was recorded by the Royal Commission on Historic Monuments (England) in 1952, and was found to have a mound with a diameter of 22m and a height of c.0.9m, although this has since been reduced by ploughing. Surrounding the mound is a ditch from which material was quarried during the construction of the monument. This is no longer visible at ground level as it has become infilled over the years, but it will survive as a buried feature c.2m wide. ASSESSMENT OF IMPORTANCE 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. Despite reduction in height by cultivation, the bowl barrow 200m south of Winterbourne Poor Lot will survive in the form of buried remains and, as such, will contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to the Winterbourne Poor Lot round barrow cemetery and the landscape in which it was constructed. SCHEDULING HISTORY Monument included in the Schedule on 31st October 1957 as part of: COUNTY/NUMBER: Dorset 330 NAME: Group of Barrows S of Winterborne Poor Lot The reference of this monument is now: NATIONAL MONUMENT NUMBER: 22970 NAME: Bowl barrow 200m south of Winterbourne Poor Lot forming part of the Winterbourne Poor Lot round barrow cemetery SCHEDULING AFFIRMED ON 18th September 1996

Record last edited

May 31 2011 5:47AM