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A special feature of the East Cotswolds, a bale tomb is a chest tomb with a semicircular capping stone, originally said to represent a wool bale but more likely to represent a funeral pall cloth which covered the bier. Their dates range from the early 1660s to the 1770s. Most were constructed by three families of master masons using stone quarried from Burford and the surrounding villages. There are 106 examples in 45locations
Badham, S. (2023) ‘Bale tombs in eastern Cotswolds churchyards’, Journal of the Church Monuments Society, 37(1), pp. 66–115.