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Barrow on College Down is a scheduled monument located in Dorset, England, at grid reference SY 68735 99107. The site occupies 0.04 hectares and is protected by Historic England under reference 1002842. This Bronze Age or Iron Age burial mound sits on the white chalk bedrock of the Chalk Subgroup, which underlies the landscape across much of this region, formed during the Maastrichtian period of geological time.
The chalk geology of College Down provided both the natural foundation and the raw material for construction of barrows across Dorset during the prehistoric periods. The white chalk substrate would have been readily visible and workable to ancient communities establishing burial sites in this locality. The scheduled protection recognises the archaeological importance of this monument as a surviving example of prehistoric funerary practice in the Dorset landscape.
The barrow's survival to the present day reflects its location on College Down, where chalk downland has historically supported grazing rather than intensive arable cultivation. This landscape use has enabled the preservation of many such monuments across Dorset's chalk uplands, providing valuable evidence of settlement patterns and ritual practices among Bronze Age and Iron Age communities.
Barrow on College Down is a scheduled monument protected by Historic England under reference 1002842. View the official record →
Barrow on College Down is a scheduled monument located in Dorset, England, at grid reference SY 68735 99107.
Barrow on College Down is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Historic England (NHLE) — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in England. The official designation reference is 1002842.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Outer defences of Roman town, W of St Genevieve's Convent (8.8 km), Henge, Romano-British amphitheatre and Civil War fieldworks known collectively as Maumbury Rings (9.2 km), Remains of Neolithic enclosure and associated features at Max Gate (9.3 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of Barrow on College Down's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Barrow on College Down stands on White Chalk Subgroup, bedrock that formed in the Maastrichtian. The rock here is chalk.