Details

The monument includes two bell barrows aligned north west-south east, and
forming part of the Poor Lot round barrow cemetery, situated on the South
Dorset Downs on the lower part of the south facing slope of the South
Winterbourne Valley. These are two of the 44 barrows known to occur within the
Poor Lot cemetery. Both barrows have central mounds composed of earth, flint
and chalk with maximum dimensions of 25m in diameter and c.2m in height. Both
mounds are surrounded by an outer berm or gently sloping platform 3m wide and
a ditch from which material was quarried during the construction of the
monument. This has become partially infilled over the years, but is known to
survive as a buried feature c.4.5m wide.
Excluded from the scheduling are all fence posts relating to the modern field
boundaries, although the underlying ground is included.

MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features,
considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

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 pond and disc barrows. The
cemetery is unusually situated within a valley bottom.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset: Volume I, (1970), 463
Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset: Volume I, (1970), 463
Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset: Volume I, (1970), 463
Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset: Volume I, (1970), 463
Grinsell, L V, 'Procs Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Soc.' in Dorset Barrows, (1959), 167

Source: Historic England