Details of Site on Pastscape
A group of six barrows, one potentially of Neolithic date. Most have been destroyed, either by ploughing or via use as quarries for road-building material. Two mounds believed to belong to the group are currently scheduled, although Ordnance Survey field investigation could only identify one surviving mound. It is impossible to identify any particular barrow in the group with the various reported finds. The possible Neolithic mound was apparently demolished for road building material in the mid-19th century. In the centre was a cist or grave formed of flat stones placed edgeways and the spaces between infilled with dry walling. It was covered with flat stones, over which a cairn covered with a layer of earth was constructed. The cist contained 7 inhumations, described as “doubled-up” (presumably crouched). Outside the cist were some small heaps of charcoal, some flint flakes, and some animal bones. The suggetsed Neolithic date relies solely on the apparently collective nature of the burials. There is no firm dating evidence. 3 of the barrows in the group were identified as still surviving by Passmore in 1921. One was destroyed in 1931, large stone slabs from it being sold for use in a rock garden at Battledown Manor. A skull was also found. In 1974, the Ordnance Survey could only identify one mound 14 metres in diameter and circa 0.3 metres high. Any surviving trace of the other mounds was presumed to have disappearred through ploughing. Bones found inthe mounds when they were largely destroyed for road building material circa 1860 were said to have been reburied in the churchyard (presumably Hawling?). It is believed that the barrow group can be identified with the “heathen burial place” mentioned in a charter of AD 816.
Six round barrows at the Waste, Hawling (1), five of them shown on a map of 1748 (a), were largely demolished for road material c 1860 (b). One of them contained communal interments in the Neolithic tradition (2), and was described by Dr H Bird (3) as being 60 ft dia by 5 ft high with a central cist containing the remains of seven individuals. A D Passmore (4) located three of the barrows in 1921 (“A” at SP 05462181, “B” at SP 05542186 and “C” at SP 05542174), but in 1959 Grinsell found “A” to have probably been removed by quarrying and “B” measured 18 paces dia by 1 ft high and “C” was 28 paces dia by 2 ft high. The three other barrows, which lay in the area SP 056217, have all been destroyed (2). The site was referred to as “the heathen burial-place” in a charter of AD 816(5).
The remains of one ploughed-down barrow 14.0m in diameter and about 0.3m high is visible at SP 05542175 (“C”). All trace of the other barrows has disappeared under the plough. (1-5) Surveyed at 1:2500. (6)
The Waste, SP 056217. A Neolithic round cairn listed by Kinnis containing a central rectangular cist with seven bodies. (7)
A group of six round barrows formerly stood at “The Waste”, southwest of the village of Hawling. Five are depicted on a map of Hawling of 1748. Witt (1883) appears to be the first to mention six. Reports as to their fate are a little confusing. O’Neil and Grinsell quote an unpublished source stating that the barrows were “virtually destroyed” for road material circa 1860, whereas other sources refer to only one of the barrows being destroyed at this time. In 1921, AD Passmore “rediscovered” three of them as extant mounds (Hawling 5, 6 & 7 in O’Neil and Grinsell’s numbering scheme, located at SP 05462181, SP 05542186 and SP 05542174 respectively). In 1959, when Grinsell visited the site of the barrows, Hawling 5 had been “probably removed by quarrying” (one of the mounds was reportedly destroyed in 1931 – see below); Hawling 6 was measured at 18 paces diameter and 1 foot high; and Hawling 7 measured 28 paces in diameter and 2 feet high. 22 years previously, O’Neil recorded Hawling 7 as a mound 3 feet high and measuring 70 paces by 50 paces, its longer axis aligned north-south. When the Ordnance Survey field investigator visited in 1974, only one of the mounds, Hawling 7, was still extant, measuring 14 metres in diameter and 0.3 metres high. However, by 1981 two mounds had been scheduled. One is Hawling 7; the other, located at SP 05522170, was described as a mound 25 metres in diameter and 0.7 metres high. The grid reference places it very close to the road, and locates it some distance from the mounds recorded by Passmore and Grinsell.
One of the barrows has been suggested to be of Neolithic date. Unfortunately it is impossible to identify any of the known mounds with any of the reported discoveries. The possible Neolithic mound was apparently demolished for road-building material circa 1860. In the centre was a cist or grave formed of flat stones placed edgeways, the spaces between them filled with dry walling. It was roofed with flat slabs, over which a cairn covered with a layer of earth was constructed. The cist contained 7 inhumations, described as “doubled-up” (presumably crouched). Outside the cist were some small heaps of charcoal, some flint flakes and some animal bones. The suggetsed Neolithic date relies solely on the apparently collective nature of the burials. There is no firm dating evidence. It seems likely that the other mounds were substantially removed for road material around the same time, and a source quoted by O’Neil and Grinsell claims that the humanbones found at the time were re-buried in the churchyard (presumably at Hawling) although this could not be confirmed. One of the barrows, presumably one of the mounds identified by Passmore, and thus probably Hawling 5, was destroyed in 1931. Large stone slabs from it were sold for use in a rock garden at Battledown Manor, and a skull was also found. The presence of large stone slabs suggests that this was either the suggested Neolithic mound, or that similar burial structures were present in more thanone of the barrows. Finally, it has been suggetsed that the barrow group represents the “heathen burials” (Heathenan Byrigelse) mentioned in a charter of AD 816. (1-8)
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SOURCE TEXT
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( 1) by G B Witts 1883 Archaeological handbook of the county of Gloucester, being an explanatory description of the archaeological map of Gloucestershire Round barrows 121-6. Page(s)108
( 2a) Externally held archive reference 1748 Map of Hawling by F Stratford, now in Glos Records Office
( 2b) Oral information, correspondence (not archived) or staff comments
( 2) Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society O’Neil, H and L Grinsell. Gloucestershire Barrows. 79, 1960 Page(s)43, 59, 98, 118
( 3) Cotteswold Naturalists Field Club proceedings (H Bird) 6, 1871-6 Page(s)333-4
( 4) Annotated Record Map Rec 6” (O G S Crawford)
( 5) General reference Finberg, H. 1961. Early Charters of the West Midlands 1961 (H P R Finberg) Page(s)184
( 6) Field Investigators Comments F1 DRB 21-MAR-74
( 7) by Ian Kinnes 1979 Round barrows and ring-ditches in the British Neolithic British Museum occasional papers no.7 Page(s)21-22
( 8) Scheduled Monument Notification 13-OCT-1999