Western bowl barrow of a pair known as the Butt Hills

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 monument is one of a pair of round barrows surviving within the town of Bridlington. Although somewhat reduced in size through the passage of time, it still retains a visible mound and a ring ditch, both of which will contain archaeological and environmental information relating to the monument's period and method of construction. The reuse of this barrow as an archery butt is unusual. Such butts were used throughout the medieval period for archery practice with the longbow, an important element of England's weaponry throughout the medieval period.

Details

The monument includes one of a group of two bowl barrows, known locally as `The Butt Hills', reflecting their probable reuse in the medieval period as butts for archery practice. The barrow is located in the playing field of the East Yorkshire College of Further Education, south of a paved footpath, and lies around 100m to the west of the other Butt Hills barrow. The monument is visible as a low grassed mound c.1m in height, and measuring c.12m in diameter, surrounded by a ditch c.2m wide, which is visible in places as a slight depression encircling the mound. The barrows are named from the tradition that they were at one time used as archery butts for local people to practise on Sundays, after mass, although the veracity of this has not been confirmed. The surface of the modern tarmac pathway which lies adjacent to the northward side of the monument is excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath it is included.

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:

26514

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Mortimer, J R, Forty Years Researches in British and Saxon Burial Mounds of East Yorkshire, (1905), 396
Mortimer, J R, Forty Years Researches in British and Saxon Burial Mounds of East Yorkshire, (1905), 396

Other
Humberside SMR, Sites and Monuments Records Sheet, (1994)

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