Details

The monument includes a pair of Bronze Age bowl barrows with confluent
ditches, situated 200m SSW of Bockett's Corner on Leigh Hale Plain. The
barrows, which are aligned east-west, occupy a low ridge which runs from east
to west with gentle slopes down hill to the north and south.
The western barrow survives as a low stony mound 10m across and up to 0.2m
high. This represents the visible extent of the original barrow mound which
has been levelled by cultivation but survives with an overall diameter of 16m.
This is surrounded by a quarry ditch, from which material was obtained during
the construction of the mound. The ditch survives below ground as a 4m wide
feature visible on aerial photographs.
The eastern mound survives as a low stony mound 20m across and up to 0.5m
high. It has also been partially levelled and the actual diameter of the mound
is 22m across. This survives as a spread of stone, visible at ground level in
the ploughsoil. The surrounding quarry ditch, which is visible on aerial
photographs, has become infilled over the years but also survives as a buried
feature 4m 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 Leigh Hale Plain pair of bowl barrows form a distinct type of confluent
burial monument. Despite having been reduced by cultivation, they will contain
archaeological and environmental evidence relating to their construction and
the landscape in which they were built.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
Discussion of field names -Mr Mathews, JEFFERY, P.P., DISCUSSION WITH MANAGER, (1993)
Discussion of field names-Mr. Mathews, JEFFERY, P.P., DISCUSSION WITH MANAGER, (1993)
OCN 70 LEIGH HALL PLAIN ROUND BARROWS, County List of Scheduled Ancient Monuments - Oxfordshire, (1987)
PRN 2297, C.A.O., LEIGH HALE PLAIN ROUND BARROWS, (1992)
R.C.H.M.(E),
SP 21 SE 11, Ordnance Survey, Bowl Barrows (2), (1976)
Title: Ordnance Survey 6" Series
Source Date: 1955
Author:
Publisher:
Surveyor:
6"

Source: Historic England