Details

The monument includes a pair of well-preserved Bronze Age bowl barrows
orientated north-south and situated on a false crest c.50m up-hill from a
steep wooded slope which runs north and east into a wooded valley. The two
barrow mounds are 7m apart.
The northern barrow mound measures 11.5m across and stands up to 1m high.
Surrounding the mound, but no longer visible at ground level, is a quarry
ditch from which material was obtained during the construction of the
monument. This has become infilled over the years but will survive as a buried
feature c.2m wide.
The southern barrow mound measures 10.4m across and stands up to 1m high. This
is also surrounded by a c.2m wide buried ditch.

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 pair of Bronze Age bowl barrows at Hawksnest Copse survive well and will
contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to their
construction and the landscape in which they were 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)
Other
PRN 13409, C.A.O., Round Barrow,
PRN 13410, C.A.O., Round Barrow,

Source: Historic England