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Two bowl barrows in Oldfurze Covert

A Scheduled Monument in Swell, Gloucestershire

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Coordinates

Latitude: 51.9356 / 51°56'8"N

Longitude: -1.7847 / 1°47'4"W

OS Eastings: 414899.16933

OS Northings: 226362.053221

OS Grid: SP148263

Mapcode National: GBR 4PS.RKQ

Mapcode Global: VHB1P.0MV1

Entry Name: Two bowl barrows in Oldfurze Covert

Scheduled Date: 25 February 1948

Last Amended: 18 January 1994

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1008204

English Heritage Legacy ID: 22874

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 two bowl barrows situated on level ground in Oldfurze
Covert.
The northern barrow, known as the Picked Morden round barrow, has a mound 22m
in diameter and c.2.4m high. There is a dry-stone wall running over the mound
in the northern area of the barrow. There is no apparent sign of a quarry
ditch despite conditions appropriate for its survival.
The southern barrow has a mound 7.2m in diameter and c.0.55m high and is
situated immediately to the south-west of the larger northern barrow.
These two bowl barrows form part of a wider group of similar monuments known
to occur locally.
The dry-stone wall is excluded from the scheduling, 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

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 two bowl barrows in Oldfurze Covert survive well and will contain
archaeological and environmental evidence relating to the monument and the
landscape in which it was constructed. The smaller mound represents a rare
survival and is likely to have been protected by its woodland cover.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
Name of the site,
Second bowl barrow nearby,

Source: Historic England

Other nearby scheduled monuments

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