Six bowl barrows 300m north east of High Wold Farm

Overview

Heritage Category: Scheduled Monument

List Entry Number: 1007501

Date first listed: 23-Nov-1962

Date of most recent amendment: 22-Jun-1995

Location

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

National Grid Reference: SE 90779 41648

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.

Although these six barrows 300m north east of High Wold Farm have been altered by agricultural activity they will retain significant information on their original form and the burials placed within them. They will also contribute to an understanding of the wider group of which they are members.

Details

The monument includes six Bronze Age bowl barrows, members of a wider group of similar monuments in this area of the Yorkshire Wolds. The most northerly barrow in the group has a mound 1m high and 40m in diameter. Immediately to the south east is a mound 0.5m high and 25m in diameter. Two further barrows lie immediately to the south of these. Although the mounds of these two barrows have been levelled by agricultural activity, the encircling ditches, excavated during the construction of the mounds, are clearly visible on aerial photographs. Each ditch survives as an infilled feature 4m wide and 25m in diameter. Two further barrows, which are orientated north-south, lie to the south of those barrows described above. The more northerly of the pair has a mound 1m high and 32m in diameter. The mound of the southernmost barrow in the group is 1.25m high and 32m in diameter. Although no longer visible at ground level, ditches, from which material was excavated during the construction of the monument, surround each of the barrow mounds. These have become infilled over the the years but survive as buried features 4m 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: 21160

Legacy System: RSM

Sources

Other
OS 71/137/079-80, ANONYMOUS,
SE 9068-9090, ANON,
Stoetz, K,

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 Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.