Bowl barrow 130m south of Bloody Shard Gate

Scheduled area

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History & significance

Bowl Barrow 130m South of Bloody Shard Gate is a scheduled monument in Dorset, England, protected by Historic England. Located at grid reference ST 93266 14616, the barrow occupies 0.03 hectares of chalk downland in an area rich in Bronze Age funerary monuments. The monument sits on the White Chalk Subgroup, a late Cretaceous deposit laid down during the Maastrichtian period, which underlies much of the Dorset chalk landscape and would have been a familiar natural feature to its prehistoric builders.

Bowl barrows of this type typically date to the Bronze Age and represent the burial places of individuals of status within their communities. The simple hemispherical mound structure, characteristic of this monument class, was created by heaping earth and chalk rubble over a central burial pit. Such monuments often contained cremated or inhumed remains, sometimes accompanied by grave goods reflecting the deceased's wealth and position.

The barrow's location south of Bloody Shard Gate places it within a broader landscape of ceremonial and funerary activity. Its preservation as a scheduled monument reflects the significance of Bronze Age burial monuments as archaeological records and as physical expressions of prehistoric social organisation. The site remains largely unexcavated, retaining potential for future archaeological investigation.

Bowl barrow 130m south of Bloody Shard Gate is a scheduled monument protected by Historic England under reference 1013793. View the official record →

Questions & answers

Other scheduled monuments within 10 km

The bedrock under Bowl barrow 130m south of Bloody Shard Gate

Bowl barrow 130m south of Bloody Shard Gate stands on White Chalk Subgroup, bedrock that formed in the Maastrichtian. The rock here is chalk.

Around Bowl barrow 130m south of Bloody Shard Gate