Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow set above the floor of a dry valley in an
area of undulating chalk downland known as Ogbourne Maizey Down. The barrow
mound is 23m in diameter and stands to a height of 0.4m. Surrounding the
barrow mound is a ditch, no longer visible at ground level, from which
material was quarried during the construction of the monument. This has
become infilled over the years but survives as a buried feature c.3m 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.

Despite cultivation of the Barbury Castle bowl barrow, the old ground surface,
ditches and much of the barrow mound survive intact. The monument therefore
has significant potential for the recovery of archaeological remains. The
importance of the site is enhanced by the fact that numerous other barrow
mounds survive in the area. These give an indication of the extent to which
the area was settled during the Bronze Age period.

Source: Historic England