Acklam Wold barrow group: a bowl barrow 450m south of Acklam Wold House

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, it is still visible as a slight earthwork and was also comparatively well-documented during a campaign of fieldwork in the 19th century. Further evidence of the structure of the mound, the surrounding ditch and the burials will survive. The monument is one of a closely associated group of barrows which have further associations with broadly contemporary boundary earthworks in the vicinity of Acklam 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, located on the edge of Deep Dale, which is one of a number of barrows situated on the crest of Acklam Wold. This particular barrow is one of two which lie to the south of a ploughed-out cross-dyke, a later prehistoric boundary feature which originally sub-divided the southern end of Acklam Wold. Although altered by agricultural activity, the barrow is still visible as a mound 0.5m high and 27m in diameter. A ditch, from which material used to construct the barrow was originally obtained, surrounds the mound, although it has become infilled over the years and is no longer visible at ground level. The barrow was recorded and partially excavated by J R Mortimer in 1878; he discovered three skeletons in two shallow graves covered with large flints.

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:

20556

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Mortimer, J R, Forty Years Researches in British and Saxon Burial Mounds of East Yorkshire, (1905), 93-4

End of official list entry

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