Bell barrow and adjacent bowl barrow on Marlborough Common, 120m east of Wootton Bassett Road

Scheduled area

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History & significance

Bell barrow and adjacent bowl barrow on Marlborough Common, 120m east of Wootton Bassett Road is a pair of Bronze Age burial monuments situated on the open downland of Marlborough Common in Wiltshire. The bell barrow, distinguished by its characteristic bell-shaped mound with a surrounding ditch and external bank, represents a more elaborate form of barrow construction typical of the Early Bronze Age, whilst the adjacent bowl barrow demonstrates the simpler mound-and-ditch form common to the period. Both monuments survive as earthworks and form part of the extensive Bronze Age barrow cemetery that characterises this landscape, reflecting the ceremonial and burial practices of communities inhabiting the Marlborough Downs during the second millennium before the present era. The monuments are protected as designated heritage assets, preserving important archaeological evidence of prehistoric settlement and funerary customs in the Wiltshire chalk downlands.

Bell barrow and adjacent bowl barrow on Marlborough Common, 120m east of Wootton Bassett Road is a scheduled monument protected by Historic England under reference 1012426. View the official record →

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