Bowl barrow, known as Rendcomb Old Park round barrow, 300m north east of Old Park Farm

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1019404
Date first listed:: 04-Feb-1949

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Location

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1019404
Date first listed:: 04-Feb-1949
Date of most recent amendment:: 07-Jul-1999

Location

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

County:: Gloucestershire
District:: Cotswold (District Authority)
Parish:: North Cerney
National Grid Reference:: SP 00785 09196

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.

Rendcomb Old Park round barrow survives well, and the mound is unusually large compared to other barrows in the area. The mound will contain evidence for primary and secondary burials, along with grave goods, which will provide information about prehistoric burial rituals. It will also preserve part of the original ground surface, predating the construction of the barrow. The mound and its surrounding ditch will also contain environmental evidence in the form of organic remains, which will relate both to the barrow amd the landscape within which it was constructed.

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow just below the crest of a hill in the Cotswolds. The barrow mound measures 42m in diameter and is 2.6m high. The mound is surrounded by a ditch which has become infilled over the years and can no longer be seen at ground level. It will, however, survive as a buried feature about 5m wide. There is no record that the barrow has been excavated in the past, although a slight hollow in the centre of the mound may indicate an unrecorded investigation. The post and wire fence which encloses an area with a diameter of 18m in the centre of the barrow is 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 3 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:: 31936
Legacy System:: RSM

Sources

Books and journals
O`Neil, H E, Grinsell, L V, 'Proc of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Arch Soc' in Gloucestershire Barrows, , Vol. LXXIX, (1960), 126

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 Culture, Media and Sport.