Pair of bowl barrows at Hawksnest Copse in Wychwood Forest

Overview

Heritage Category: Scheduled Monument

List Entry Number: 1011215

Date first listed: 12-Oct-1993

Location

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

National Grid Reference: SP 34261 16719

Summary

Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.

Reasons for Designation

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.

History

Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.

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.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number: 21764

Legacy System: RSM

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,

Legal

This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.