Details

The monument includes two bowl barrows set close to the crest of a hill in the
Cotswolds and within two areas of protection. The southern barrow has a mound
which measures 23m in diameter and is 0.3m high, while the barrow to the north
has a mound measuring 14m in diameter and about 0.1m high. Surrounding each
mound is a ditch from which material was excavated during the construction of
the barrows. These are no longer visible at ground level, but survive as
buried features between 2m and 3m wide.
One of these barrows was partially excavated in 1847, when eight skeletons
were found, lying in seven stone-lined graves arranged in a circle around the
circumference of the mound. One of the skeletons was accompanied by a
spearhead. Three feet below the top of the mound was another skeleton. Finds
from the barrow included about 30 yellow glass and amber beads, several iron
spearheads, a shield boss, a saucer-brooch, the decorative plates from three
brooches, silver earrings and a bronze ring. The site was re-examined in 1869
by Playne, who claimed that the centre portion of the barrow was undisturbed,
and reported finding charcoal, bones, potsherds and worked flints at ground
level.

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

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.

Although the two bowl barrows 690m and 790m north of The Manor Farm have been
somewhat disturbed by ploughing and partial excavation, they survive well.
Both mounds will contain evidence for primary and secondary burials, along
with grave goods, which will provide information about prehistoric funerary
practices and about the size of the local community at that time. The mounds
will also preserve environmental information in the buried original ground
surface, predating the construction of the barrow and giving an insight into
the landscape in which the monument was set. In addition the mounds and their
surrounding ditches will contain environmental evidence in the form of organic
remains, which will relate both to the barrows and the wider landscape.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
O`Neil, H E, Grinsell, L V, 'Proc of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Arch Soc' in Gloucestershire Barrows, (1960), 102
O`Neil, H E, Grinsell, L V, 'Proc of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Arch Soc' in Gloucestershire Barrows, (1960), 102
Playne, G F, 'Proceedings of the Cotteswold Naturalists Field Club' in On the Early Occupation of the Cotswold Hills by Man, , Vol. V, (1872), 278-282

Source: Historic England