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 closely associated group of barrows on Huggate Wold.
The location of the barrows alongside an ancient greenway, and close to the
very extensive systems of dykes and hollow ways dating back to the Bronze Age,
offers important insights into ancient land use and territorial divisions for
social, ritual and agricultural purposes in this area of the Yorkshire Wolds.
Despite part excavation by J R Mortimer in 1882, an earlier, unrecorded
excavation, and the effects of ploughing over many years, the barrow still
survives as a visible feature in the landscape, and will contain further
burials and archaeological information relating to its construction.
Details
The monument includes a Bronze Age bowl barrow on Huggate Wold, situated
550m south of the A166 York-Bridlington road, 2.5km south west of Fridaythorpe
Village, and 400m NNW of Watermanhole Reservoir. The barrow is one of a group
of three barrows surviving in close proximity, and together these form part of
a much larger group of bowl barrows dispersed across Huggate Wold and Huggate
Pasture.
Although altered over the years by agricultural activity which has greatly
reduced the height of the mound and spread its surface area, the barrow is
still visible as a low mound up to 0.25m in height and 22m in diameter. It is
surrounded by a ditch 3m wide which, although infilled by ploughing and no
longer visible at ground level, will survive as a buried feature.
The monument was originally part of a larger cemetery of 20 barrows adjacent
to an ancient trackway, which is itself related to the ancient greenway in the
Wolds of East Yorkshire, now known as the Wolds Way. This sub-group of three
barrows lies around 1.2km to the north west of the linear bank system of Horse
Dale, and should therefore be viewed in the context of the wider ancient
landscape, where very extensive systems of banks, dykes and hollow ways link
large tracts of the countryside in this area of the Yorkshire Wolds.
The barrow was subject to an unrecorded excavation by Mr Thomas of Boston,
Lincolnshire in November 1881, and subsequently was reopened by J R Mortimer
on 25 February 1882, who found part of a fine flaked spearhead of black flint.
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.
