Bowl barrow known as the Round Hill, 170m ENE of Roundhill Farm

Overview

Heritage Category: Scheduled Monument

List Entry Number: 1013957

Date first listed: 22-Mar-1996

Location

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

National Grid Reference: SP 73714 10016

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.

Despite being reduced by subsequent activity, the bowl barrow known as Round Hill will retain significant archaeological information. Funerary remains will survive in buried features within and beneath the mound illustrating both the function of the monument and the beliefs of the community which built it. Further remains, funerary and otherwise may also be found in the silts of the surrounding ditch, as well as environmental evidence relating to the appearance of the landscape in which it was set. The barrow's location near the River Thame reflects the use of the valley as a communciation route and, through comparison with similar monuments in similar locations, contributes to the understanding of the prehistoric settlement and land use in the valleys of the Rivers Thame and Ouse.

History

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

Details

The monument includes a Bronze Age bowl barrow situated on the north side of the A418 Aylesbury Road, overlooking low ground and the course of the River Thame to the north west. In the mid 19th century the barrow mound was noted as being 74 yards in circumference at the base, with a slope four yards wide leading from the summit which measured ten yards across. Despite later ploughing, and the truncation of the southern edge by a field boundary ditch, the barrow remains visible as a low mound, 23m in diameter and up to 0.8m high. There is no surface indication of the surrounding ditch from which the material for the mound would have been quarried. This, however, is thought to survive as a buried feature which, from the present diameter and recorded size of the mound, can be estimated to have a width of c.2m.

The 19th century report mentions a cross-shaped depression on the summit of the mound which is thought to indicate its reuse as a windmill stand in the medieval or post-medieval period.

The fence and fence posts crossing the southern edge of the barrow 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: 27135

Legacy System: RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Lipscomb, G, History and Antiquities of Buckinghamshire, (1847), 202
Lipscomb, G, History and Antiquities of Buckinghamshire, (1847), 202
Other
conversation with Parish Councillor, Witney, M, Round Hill, Haddenham, (1995)
Entries plotted from the Bucks SMR, Archaeological referance map (1:10,000 O.S.),
Haddenham - Cuddington Circular Walk, 1975, Parish Council guide
infomation from County Archaeologist, Farley, M, Round Hill, Haddenham, (1995)
Ordnance Survey Record Card, PAS, SP 71 SW 6, (1972)
Records of finds, 0856,

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.