Ancient Monuments

History on the Ground

This site is entirely user-supported. See how you can help.

Bowl barrow 500m south-east of Swell Wold Farm

A Scheduled Monument in Swell, Gloucestershire

We don't have any photos of this monument yet. Why don't you be the first to send us one?

Upload Photo »

Approximate Location Map
Large Map »

If Google Street View is available, the image is from the best available vantage point looking, if possible, towards the location of the monument. Where it is not available, the satellite view is shown instead.

Coordinates

Latitude: 51.9367 / 51°56'12"N

Longitude: -1.7958 / 1°47'45"W

OS Eastings: 414131.12049

OS Northings: 226483.890568

OS Grid: SP141264

Mapcode National: GBR 4PS.GT0

Mapcode Global: VHB1N.TLG6

Entry Name: Bowl barrow 500m south-east of Swell Wold Farm

Scheduled Date: 25 March 1948

Last Amended: 25 March 1994

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1008203

English Heritage Legacy ID: 22873

County: Gloucestershire

Civil Parish: Swell

Traditional County: Gloucestershire

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): Gloucestershire

Church of England Parish: The Swells

Church of England Diocese: Gloucester

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow situated on the crest of a gently sloping
east-facing slope.
The barrow, known as the Swell Wold round barrow, has a mound composed of
small stones 26m in diameter and c.2m high. This is surrounded by a ditch from
which material was quarried during the construction of the monument. This has
become partially infilled over the years, but remains visible as an earthwork
5m wide on the northern side of the monument, and survives as a buried feature
elsewhere.
Fragments of a Middle-Late Bronze Age urn and burnt bones were found in a
rabbit scrape on the barrow mound in 1935.
This monument forms one of a group of similar monuments known to occur
locally.

MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

Bowl barrows, the most numerous form of round barrow, are funerary monuments
dating from the Late Neolithic period to the Late Bronze Age, with most
examples belonging to the period 2400-1500 BC. They were constructed as
earthen or rubble mounds, sometimes ditched, which covered single or multiple
burials. They occur either in isolation or grouped as cemeteries and often
acted as a focus for burials in later periods. Often superficially similar,
although differing widely in size, they exhibit regional variations in form
and a diversity of burial practices. There are over 10,000 surviving bowl
barrows recorded nationally (many more have already been destroyed), occurring
across most of lowland Britain. Often occupying prominent locations, they are
a major historic element in the modern landscape and their considerable
variation of form and longevity as a monument type provide important
information on the diversity of beliefs and social organisations amongst early
prehistoric communities. They are particularly representative of their period
and a substantial proportion of surviving examples are considered worthy of
protection.

The bowl barrow 500m south-east of Swell Wold Farm survives well and is known
to contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to the monument
and the landscape in which it was constructed.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
Mention of finds from the site,
The name of the monument,

Source: Historic England

Other nearby scheduled monuments

AncientMonuments.uk is an independent online resource and is not associated with any government department. All government data published here is used under licence. Please do not contact AncientMonuments.uk for any queries related to any individual ancient or schedued monument, planning permission related to scheduled monuments or the scheduling process itself.

AncientMonuments.uk is a Good Stuff website.