HER 4238 DESCRIPTION:- Scheduled Monument Description:- The monument includes a round barrow which lies immediately below the crest of an east-west ridge in the Cotswolds. The barrow mound measures 25m in diameter and is 0.6m high. Surrounding the mound is a ditch from which material was excavated during the construction of the barrow. This is no longer visible at ground level, but will survive as a buried feature about 3m wide {Source Work 2873.} The scheduling aims to protect the round barrow including the central mound, its surrounding ditch and a 2m margin around the monument to ensure its protection. The monument therefore has a maximum diameter of 35m. The round barrow lies in a field which is regularly ploughed, and is visible as a stoney mound within the field. Documentary sources indicate that before the 1950s the mound was being ploughed around, probably due to tree growth on the barrow but that once the trees died the mound was taken into cultivation (pers comm A Douthwaite). SP10182322. A stony mound 16 paces diameter x 3 feet high crowned by a sycamore. It may be a barrow or a tree covered area which has escaped cultivation and erosion. {Source Work 1267.} SP10232323. A probable round barrow 13m diameter x 0.8m high stands immediately below the crest of an E-W ridge. Much reduced by ploughing it remains as a stony grass covered mound surmounted by the sycamore.{pers comm S Brown} Visible within arable field in 1946 APs {Source Work 863.} area of barrows capped by a tree and avoided by the plough . The mound obviously much more extensive formerly than now. Progressive ploughing has encroached. The sycamore roots must also have ruined most of the barrow remainder.Surmounted by a tree and ploughed around {Source Work 470.} The Bronze Age round barrow referred to is obscured by trees on the available aerial photographs {Source Work 15250.} AREA ASSESSMENT :- Majority of site ploughed {Source Work 470.} Diameter 14m. Height 0.9m. 2001 - Site visited by R Massey of English Heritage. Under continuous cultivation: cultivation history not known but evidently long term. Shallow (c25cm) poorly structured and degraded plateau soil with high sand/stone inclusion. Monument situated at top of gentle even slope of c2 degree gradient. Estimated plough depth 15cm. No surface artefactual evidence. Mound structure largely disturbed and spread. Given current profile of barrow (observable height 30-40cm) prognosis for shallow stratigraphy and primary burial are not good and largely dependent upon degree of surface erosion which may have occurred in area immediately surrounding barrow {Source Work 7244}. 2009 - Extensive significant problems i.e. under plough, collapse. {Source Work 9917.} |