Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow located just below the crest of a hill in
the Cotswolds, 690m south west of Roel Farm. The barrow mound measures 30m in
diameter and is 1.3m high. Surrounding the mound is a ditch from which
material was excavated during the construction of the barrow. The ditch is no
longer visible at ground level, having become infilled over the years, but
survives as a buried feature about 3m wide.
The mound was opened by quarrymen in 1931 and found to contain the remains of
a stone cist, formed from two upright stone slabs and a collapsed cover slab.
In 1994 the mound was the subject of a resistivity survey by Dr Marshall. This
revealed a circular area, about 18m-20m in diameter, of higher resistivity,
which did not contain any detectible structures.

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 690m south west of Roel Farm survives well, despite some
disturbance in the past. The mound will contain evidence for primary and
secondary burials, along with grave goods, which will provide information
about prehistoric funerary practices and about the size of the local community
at that time. The barrow mound will also preserve environmental information in
the buried original ground surface, predating the construction of the barrow
and giving an insight into the landscape in which the monument was set. In
addition the mound and its surrounding ditch will contain environmental
evidence in the form of organic remains, which will relate both to the barrow
and the wider landscape.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Marshall, A, Resistivity Survey Over Selected Round Barrows, (1994)
O`Neil, H E, Grinsell, L V, 'Proc of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Arch Soc' in Gloucestershire Barrows, , Vol. LXXIX, (1960), 117

Source: Historic England