Scheduled Monument: Bowl barrow and pond barrow within Well Bottom Wood, part of the Winterbourne Poor Lot round barrow cemetery (SM22940)

EXTRACT FROM ENGLISH HERITAGE'S RECORD OF SCHEDULED MONUMENTS MONUMENT: Bowl barrow and pond barrow within Well Bottom Wood, part of the Winterbourne Poor Lot round barrow cemetery PARISH: WINTERBOURNE ABBAS DISTRICT: WEST DORSET COUNTY: DORSET NATIONAL MONUMENT NO: 22940 NATIONAL GRID REFERENCE(S): SY59199052 DESCRIPTION OF THE MONUMENT The monument includes a bowl and pond barrow aligned east-west, and forming part of the Poor Lot round barrow cemetery, situated on the South Dorset Downs within the valley bottom of the South Winterbourne. These are two of the 44 barrows which are known to occur within the Poor Lot cemetery. The bowl barrow to the west has a mound composed of earth and chalk, with a maximum diameter of 16m and a maximum height of c.1.75m. This is surrounded by a ditch from which material was quarried during the construction of the monument. This has become infilled over the years, but is known to survive as a buried feature 3m wide. The pond barrow, which is situated 50m to the east of the bowl barrow, is enclosed by an outer bank with maximum dimensions of 6m in width and c.0.65m in height. This encloses a sunken sub-circular area which is c.0.8m deep, 25m from east to west and 30m from north to south. The verge of the road to the north east has removed part of the outer bank of the barrow. There is a gap in the bank on the south western side of the monument c.1m in width which may represent an entrance. 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. The Poor Lot cemetery survives well as one of very few examples in Dorset known to exhibit such a wide range of different forms of round barrow, including some of the rare barrow types, such as disc and pond barrows. The cemetery is unusually situated within a valley bottom. SCHEDULING HISTORY Monument included in the Schedule on 31st October 1957 as part of: COUNTY/NUMBER: Dorset 319 NAME: Group of barrows in Winterborne Poor Lot and adjoining wood Monument placed in Guardianship on 27th March 1961 as part of: COUNTY/NUMBER: Dorset 319 NAME: Winterbourne Abbas Poor Lot Barrows The reference of this monument is now: NATIONAL MONUMENT NUMBER: 22940 NAME: Bowl barrow and pond barrow within Well Bottom Wood, part of the Winterbourne Poor Lot round barrow cemetery SCHEDULING REVISED ON 07th July 1995

Record last edited

Jun 15 2012 3:55PM