Details

The monument includes Boswell bowl barrow, located 700m north of Cocked Hat
Plantation. The barrow is situated on a plateau above two small tributaries
of the River Bain.
The barrow mound, which is considered to have been constructed in the Bronze
Age, is some 45m in diameter and stands to a height of about 1.8m. Material
for the construction of the mound is thought to have been quarried from an
encircling ditch. This ditch has been infilled and buried over the years and
is no longer visible, although it is thought to survive beneath the present
ground surface and is included in the scheduling.
Apart from some slight disturbance caused by the laying of a cable earlier
this century, there is no evidence to suggest that the barrow has been
excavated, and it is thought to survive largely intact.

MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
It includes a 5 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.

Boswell bowl barrow survives as a well-preserved earthwork which, despite some
minor disturbance in recent times, is thought to be largely intact.
The barrow mound will contain valuable archaeological deposits, including
human remains and artefacts, relating to the date of its construction, its
period of use and the religious beliefs of the community who built the barrow.
Further deposits contained within the fills of the buried ditch will provide
evidence of activities focussed on the barrow during the Bronze Age and
subsequent periods. Environmental evidence from both the mound and the ditch
may illustrate the nature of the landscape in which the monument was set.

Source: Historic England