Details

The monument includes a Bronze Age bowl barrow 270m east of Spelsburydown Farm
barns. It is one of a group of three situated on a ridge running from south
west to north east, overlooking low land to the east.
The barrow mound measures 21m in diameter and stands up to 0.5m wide. It is
clearly marked by a concentration of large stone fragments in the ploughsoil,
corresponding to its visible profile. Originally, it was surrounded by an open
quarry ditch from which material was obtained during its construction. This
has become infilled over the years due to cultivation, but will survive as a
buried feature c.2.5m 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 270m east of Spelsburydown Farm barns survives comparatively
well and will contain important archaeological and environmental evidence
relating to the construction of the monument and the landscape in which it was
built.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Mudd, A, Round Barrows of the Oxfordshire Cotswolds, (1983)
Mudd, A, Round Barrows of the Oxfordshire Cotswolds, (1983)
Thurlow Leeds, E, Early Man III Bronze Age, (1939), 243

Source: Historic England