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A bowl barrow on Toisland Wold, 600m east of Toisland Farm

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1007565
Date first listed:: 17-Jan-1994

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1007565
Date first listed:: 17-Jan-1994

Location

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

County:: North Yorkshire
District:: Ryedale (District Authority)
Parish:: Birdsall
National Grid Reference:: SE 83667 63357

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 the barrow has been partially altered by agricultural activity, below-ground remains of the encircling ditch and the contents of grave pits will survive intact. The monument is one of a closely associated group of barrows which have further associations with broadly contemporary boundary earthworks on Birdsall Wold. Similar groups of monuments are also known from other parts of the Wolds and from the southern edge of the North York Moors. Such associations between monuments offer important scope for the study of the division of land for social, ritual and agricultural purposes in different geographical areas during the prehistoric period.

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow situated on the crest of Toisland Wold, in an area known as Greenlands. The barrow is one of a number of prehistoric monuments at the eastern end of Birdsall Wold. Although altered by agricultural activity and no longer visible as an earthwork, the ditch surrounding the barrow, which has become infilled over the years, is visible on aerial photographs. The ditch has a maximum diameter of 15m. As there is no evidence that the barrow has ever been excavated, the buried ditch and the contents of burial pits within it will remain undisturbed.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract. It includes a 3 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:: 20511
Legacy System:: RSM

Sources

Other
Stoetz, K., RCHME Survey,

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 Culture, Media and Sport.