Four bowl barrows forming part of a round barrow cemetery, and a long barrow 550m NNE of Eyford Hill Farm

Reasons for Designation

Long barrows were constructed as earthen or drystone mounds with flanking ditches and acted as funerary monuments during the Early and Middle Neolithic periods (3400-2400 BC). They represent the burial places of Britain's early farming communities and, as such, are amongst the oldest field monuments surviving visibly in the present landscape. Where investigated, long barrows appear to have been used for communal burial, often with only parts of the human remains having been selected for interment. Certain sites provide evidence for several phases of funerary monument preceding the barrow and, consequently, it is probable that long barrows acted as important ritual sites for local communities over a considerable period of time. Some 500 examples of long barrows and long cairns, their counterparts in the uplands, are recorded nationally. As one of the few types of Neolithic structure to survive as earthworks, and due to their comparative rarity, their considerable age and their longevity as a monument type, all long barrows are considered to be nationally important.

The long barrow 550m NNE of Eyford Hill Farm survives well and is known from partial excavation to contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to the monument and the landscape in which it was constructed. This monument forms one of a wider group generally referred to as the Cotswold Severn type, named after the area in which they occur. Round barrow cemeteries date to the Bronze Age (c.2000-700 BC). They comprise closely spaced groups of up to 30 round barrows - rubble or earthen mounds covering single or multiple burials. Most cemeteries developed over a considerable period of time, often many centuries, and in some cases acted as a focus for burials as late as the early medieval period. They exhibit considerable diversity of burial rite, plan and form, frequently including several different types of round barrow, occasionally associated with earlier long barrows. Where large scale investigation has been undertaken around them,contemporary or later 'flat' burials between the barrow mounds have often been revealed. Round barrow cemeteries occur across much of lowland Britain, with a marked concentration in Wessex. In some cases they are clustered around other important contemporary monuments such as henges. Often occupying prominent locations, they are a major historic element in the modern landscape, whilst their diversity and longevity as a monument type provide important information on the beliefs and social organisation amongst early prehistoric communities. They are particularly representative of their period and a substantial proportion of surviving or partly-surviving examples are considered worthy of protection. The four bowl barrows 550m NNE of Eyford Hill Farm survive comparatively well as a part of the wider round barrow cemetery. The barrows will contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to the monument and the landscape in which they were constructed.

Details

The monument includes a long barrow and four bowl barrows. The bowl barrows form part of a wider round barrow cemetery. The barrows are situated on a south facing slope overlooking a dry valley to the south in an area of the Cotswold Hills. The long barrow, sometimes known as the Eyford Hill long barrow, has a mound constructed of small stones orientated from north east to south west. The mound has a maximum length of 47m, a maximum width of 20m and a maximum height of 0.8m. Partial excavation of the barrow by Royce, Rolleston and Greenwell in 1874, found it to be enclosed by a dry stone wall, and at the north eastern end there was an open area or forecourt flanked by extensions of the mound on either side; four lateral or side chambers were also identified. A chamber on the north western side near to the north eastern end of the mound contained the remains of a human adult and child together with animal bones. A chamber on the north western side near to the south western end of the mound contained the remains of nine human adults, one child and a bead made of shale from Kimmeridge in Dorset. A cist from near to the centre of the south western end of the mound contained the remains of an adult human male and female, four children and a dog. Sherds of Beaker ware were recorded from above the cist and are now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Another cist was identified on the southern side of the mound near to the south western corner in which the remains of an adolescent human and fragments of a Neolithic bowl were recovered. A further burial of a child with a Neolithic bowl and shale bead was identified just outside of the southern boundary wall near to the eastern end of the barrow. These finds are now held at the British Museum, London. This long barrow is one of two known in the locality. Both long barrows are intervisible and are situated within comparable positions on adjacent hillsides on either side of an intervening dry valley. The four bowl barrows, sometimes known as the Eyford Hill round barrows, occur in two groups and are situated to the north east and north west of the earlier long barrow. They vary between 15m and 22m in diameter and are between 0.15m and 0.25m high. All four mounds are composed of small stones and each is surrounded by a ditch from which material was quarried during their construction. These have become infilled over the years, but survive as buried features approximately 2m wide.

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:

22900

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Other
Mention of mound on 1946 AP`s,
No sign of ditch from A P`s,
Details of central cist at SW end,
Details of external burial,
Finds at British Musuem,
Report of mounds on aerial photograph,
Details of excavations in 1874,
Details of southern cist at SW corner,
Details of structure of barrow,
Details of SW chamber and contents,
Beaker pottery at Ashmolean Musuem,
Details of NE chamber and contents,
No obvious signs of ditch on AP`s,

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