Two bowl barrows, known as Crippet's Wood round barrows, 560m and 590m north east of Dryhill Farm

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 two bowl barrows known as Crippets Wood round barrows survive well despite some disturbance by partial excavation during the 19th century and lie about 300m to the south of a long barrow, the subject of a separate scheduling. Both mounds 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 mounds will also preserve environmental information in the buried original ground surface, predating the construction of the barrows and giving an insight into the landscape in which the monument was set. In addition the mounds and their associated ditches will contain environmental evidence in the form of organic remains, which will relate both to the barrow and the wider landscape.

Details

The monument includes two bowl barrows aligned roughly north east-south west, located just below the crest of a hill in the Cotswolds and within two areas of protection. The northern barrow has a mound which measures 30m in diameter and is 0.3m high, while the southern barrow mound is 20m in diameter and 0.6m high. Each mound is surrounded by a ditch from which material was excavated during the construction of the barrows. These ditches are no longer visible at ground level, having become infilled over the years, but survive as buried features 3m and 2m wide respectively. The northern barrow was partially excavated by Bell and Gomonde in 1845, and again by Dr H Bird in 1860. The mound was found to contain a central chamber measuring 1.8m by 0.6m by 0.6m, in which the remains of at least seven individuals were identified. Indications of burning were observed outside the chamber and Gomonde and Bell recorded finding another four skeletons above the chamber. The dry stone wall which runs across the southern barrow mound is excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath it 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:

32372

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Bell, , Gomonde, , Journal of the British Archaeological Association in Journal of the British Archaeological Association, Vol. 1, (1846), 153-4
Bird, H, Proceedings of the Cotteswold Naturalists' Field Club in Notes on the Tumuli of the Cotteswold Hills, Vol. 6, (1877), 334
O`Neil, H E, Grinsell, L V, Proc of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Arch Soc in Gloucestershire Barrows, Vol. LXXIX, (1960), 109

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