Round barrow known as Giant's Grave, Pen-y-Ghent Fell.

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 this barrow has been subjected to a series of excavations it remains identifiable and will retain further archaeological remains.

Details

The monument, a round barrow, is situated in a low lying position beside Pen-y-ghent Gill. It includes a nearly circular, turf covered stone bank 2.4m wide and in places up to 0.6m high, surrounding a much disturbed area of mounds and hollows. At the west end of the monument there is a smaller bank roughly in the form of a circular arc extending a further 9m. The northern, southern and western sides of a stone lined burial cist are still visible at the north east end of the site. The present form of the site owes much to the various excavations which have taken place on it, leaving behind hollows and irregular mounds of soil. The north east area of the site was excavated in 1936 by W Bennett who discovered a number of human burials around the cist area. At the west end of the monument are two large stones, 0.8m long and slightly overlapping, probably part of a chamber wall. The ground around them had been excavated at some time during the early 19th century and the hole partially refilled with boulders. The modern field walls are excluded from the scheduling although the ground beneath them is included.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

24491

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Langdale, T, Topographical Dictionary of Yorkshire. in Tour to the Caves, (), 376
Speight, H, The Craven and North West Yorkshire Highland. in The Craven and North West Yorkshire Highlands, (), 348
Bennett, W, Yorkshire Archaeological Journal. in Giants Graves, Pen-y-Ghent., Vol. 1936, (1936), 318

End of official list entry

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