Two bowl barrows in Roundway Hill Covert

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.

There is no evidence for formal excavation of the Roundway Hill Covert site and, despite afforestation in the area of the monument, much of it remains intact and has significant potential for the recovery of archaeological remains, including the ditches and the old ground surface.

Details

The monument includes two adjacent bowl barrows set on the crest of a steep west-facing escarpment on Roundway Hill. The northern barrow mound is 18m in diameter and stands to a height of 1.5m. The southern mound is 13m across and 0.4m high. Both of the barrow mounds are surrounded by ditches from which material was quarried during construction of the monument. These are no longer visible at ground level but survive as buried features c.3m wide. The bench set on the northern barrow mound, and the nature trail post close by are excluded from the scheduling although the ground beneath is included.

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:

12217

Legacy System:

RSM

End of official list entry

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