Details

The monument includes the remains of a substantial bowl barrow situated on the
highest point of Cothercott Hill. The barrow is visible as a well defined and
largely intact circular mound 19m in diameter and up to 1.8m high. The profile
of the mound is slightly spread, indicating that the barrow has been ploughed
in the past and a slight flattening of the summit suggests that it has been
disturbed in the central area at some time predating ploughing. Although no
longer visible at ground level, a ditch, from which material was quarried
during the construction of the monument, surrounds the mound. This has become
infilled over the years but will survive as a buried feature some 2m wide.

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.

The bowl barrow on the summit of Cothercott Hill, despite having been
over-ploughed at some time in the past, survives well and is a good example of
this class of round barrow. It will retain archaeological deposits and
environmental evidence relating to the landscape in which it was constructed.
Though in an isolated position on Cothercott Hill the barrow is one of a group
of such monuments surviving on surrounding hills. Considered as a group they
provide significant information relating to the intensity of settlement,
nature of land use, burial practice and social structure of the
prehistoric communities occupying this area during the Bronze Age.

Source: Historic England