| Summary : Three Bronze Age barrows, known as Flowerdown Barrows, situated to the northwest of Flowerdown House at Littleton, Hampshire. The group comprises a disc barrow and two bowl barrows, and was once part of a larger barrow cemetery group that may have acted as a territorial marker. The barrows may have been disturbed in the past, possibly by 19th century antiquarians. They are now in the care of English Heritage.The barrows are particularly well-preserved, and the disc barrow has been described as the largest and finest barrow of its kind in Hampshire. Disc barrows are rare nationally with only about 250 examples known, and often only surviving as crop marks. They were constructed as a circular area of level ground surrounded by a ditch and external bank, with one or more low mounds covering burials within the central platform. The burials were usually cremations accompanied by vessels, tools, and personal ornaments. It is likely that the individuals buried within them were of high status. This disc barrow has a circular flat platform 28 metres in diameter on which lie two circular mounds. The central mound is 7 metres in diameter and has a central hollow. The other lies to the southwest of the centre and is 6 metres in diameter. The larger of the two bowl barrows lies to the southwest of the disc barrow; it has a circular mound with a central hollow and is 20 metres in diameter and one metre high. The smaller bowl barrow abuts the outer edge of the disc barrow bank. Its mound is 8 metres in diameter and 0.3 metres high. Bowl barrows were usually constructed of a mound of turf, soil, or rock, covering one or more burials. This was usually surrounded by a circular ditch from which the mound material may have been quarried. The burials were either inhumations or cremation burials, sometimes with grave goods such as pottery vessels, weapons, flint tools, and jewellery. |
More information : ['A' at SU 45833194, 'B' at SU 45883198] TUMULI [O.E.] (1)
['A'] Bowl Barrow 18 paces in diameter and 3 1/2 feet high with a hollow in the centre. (2)
['B'] Disc Barrow. "This is the finest disc barrow in Hampshire and is in excellent condition. It is exactly circular and the overall diameter is 178 feet. There are two mounds within the platform area which is surrounded by a ditch and bank. Of the two mounds the larger is in the centre of a platform and is 26 feet in diameter and 2 feet high with a dip in the centre. The other is 21 feet in diameter and 1 1/2 feet high with a dip in
the centre."
Williams-Freeman describes the disc-barrow and goes on to say "there is also a bowl barrow, 3 feet high, 30 yards to the south west and a low mound 9 inches high between the two, touching the disc-barrow. (3)
The bowl barrow is heavily overgrown with brambles and has no surrounding ditch. It is 16 metres in diameter and 1 metres high with a slight hollow in the centre. The low mound between this and the disc barrow, mentioned by Williams-Freeman, cannot now be traced but may have been spoil from the hollow.
The disc barrow is well preserved but is covered with long tufty grass which makes the identification of the interior mounds difficult. There is a mound 0.4 metres high and 7 metres in diameter to the north east of the centre and another 6 metres in diameter and 0.2 metres high west of the centre of the barrow. The former may be the mutilated remains of the central hump recorded by Grinsell. Under present conditions no certain conclusions can be drawn regarding the nature of the two mounds.
At best the other bank of the barrow is 0.5 metres high and the ditch 1.6 metres deep. A 25" survey of both barrows has been made. (4)
No change: published 1:2500 correct. (5)
No change. 1:2500 Survey correct. (6)
Ordnance Survey Antiquity Model. (7)
A Bronze Age disc barrow and two bowl barrows located 500 metres northwest of Flowerdown House aligned northeast to southwest on the crest of a ridge. The disc barrow has a circular flat platform 28 metres in diameter on which lie two circular mounds. The central mound is 7 metres in diameter and has a central hollow. The second lies to the southwest of the centre and is 6 metres in diameter.
The larger of the two bowl barrows lies to the southwest of the disc barrow with a circular mound of 20 metres diameter and 1 metre high. It has a central hollow.
The smaller bowl barrow abuts the outer edge of the disc barrow bank and has a mound 8 metres in diameter and 0.3 metres in height. All three barrows are scheduled. (8-9)
The site of a barrow cemetery and a Sarsen Stone. Only three barrows have survived (two bowl and one disc barrow) of what may have been a larger cemetery. There is also a sarsen stone located at the site. A plaque describes that the sarsen stone was originally found in Dean Down Drove in Littleton in 1906. It was moved to its present location from the Hampshire County Museum in 1984. (10)
Three Bronze Age burials which were once part of a larger "barrow cemetery". The burials are two bowl barrows and the finest disc barrow in Hampshire. (11)
A brief description of the site. (12) |