Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow situated just below the crest of a hill in
Gatcombe Wood, in an area of the Cotswold Hills.
The barrow has a mound composed of small stones. It has a maximum diameter of
12.5m and a maximum height of 1m. There is no sign of a quarry ditch at the
site, despite favourable conditions for its survival.
Near to the centre of the top of the mound is a depression which is now
leaf filled, but which has dimensions of 2m by 1m. This is likely to represent
an excavation hollow created when the barrow was partially excavated by G E
Playne prior to 1880. The remains of the cremation of a child were recovered
and there were traces of charcoal on the contemporary ground surface; these
are likely to have related to a funerary pyre.
Two stone blocks which are situated on the mound are likely to relate to the
burial chamber of the barrow and may have been disturbed during the
excavations.

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 in Gatcombe Wood survives well and is known to contain
archaeological and environmental evidence relating to the monument and the
landscape in which it was constructed.
The monument represents one of a dispersed group of similar monuments known in
the area.

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), 124
O`Neil, H E, Grinsell, L V, 'Proc of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Arch Soc' in Gloucestershire Barrows, (1960), 124
Other
Excavation conducted before 1880,

Source: Historic England