Three bowl barrows on Wilton Moor, 850m north-north-west of High Barnaby Farm

Overview

Heritage Category: Scheduled Monument

List Entry Number: 1011270

Date first listed: 07-Jul-1952

Date of most recent amendment: 11-Aug-1993

Location

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

National Grid Reference: NZ 57546 18185

Summary

Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.

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.

The group of barrows on Wilton Moor are well preserved and their archaeological deposits survive undisturbed. Evidence of the manner of construction, and the nature and duration of use will be preserved within and beneath the mound and within the ditch. Evidence relating to the Bronze Age environment around the monument and of the wider landscape will also survive. The importance of this monument is increased because of the survival of other barrows in the immediate vicinity of similar and different form; such evidence provides a clear indication of the variety of Bronze Age funerary monuments and illustrates the extent of Bronze Age settlement and activity in the area.

History

Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.

Details

The monument includes three bowl barrows of Bronze Age date situated on flat land with a southern aspect. The western barrow mound measures 17m in diameter and survives to a height of 1m. There are signs of disturbance at the centre of the mound, the result of partial excavation in the past. The second mound, some 10m to the east measures 16m across and stands to a height of 1.2m; it also shows evidence of slight central disturbance. Abutting the north-east side of the barrow is a small barrow 8m in diameter and 70cm high. Each of the barrow mounds is surrounded by a ditch dug to provide the material to build the mound; although no longer visible at ground level these ditches survive as buried features each measuring 2m across.

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: 20867

Legacy System: RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Vyner, B E, 'Yorkshire Archaeological Journal' in Bronze Age activity on the Eston Hills, Cleveland, (1991), 47
Vyner, B E, 'Yorkshire Archaeological Journal' in Bronze Age activity on the Eston Hills, Cleveland, (1991), 47
Other
No. 0528,
No. 0529,
No. 1324,

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.