Bowl barrow on Huggate Wold, 700m NNW of Watermanhole Reservoir

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 about 550m south of the A166 York-Bridlington road, 2.5km south west of Fridaythorpe Village and 700m NNW of Watermanhole Reservoir. The barrow is one of a group of three barrows surviving in close proximity in this area, 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 reduced the height of the mound and spread its surface area, the barrow is still visible as a low mound 0.3m high and 25m in diameter. It is surrounded by a ditch up to 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 existing 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 and ditch 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 in April 1882. According to Mortimer, Mr Thomas found two skeletons placed together towards the centre of the mound, just below the original ground surface. They were lying on their right sides, but opposed, one with its head to the north and the other with its head to the south. A leaf shaped black flint spearhead was discovered behind the shoulders of one and another of similar appearance found at the feet of the other. When Mortimer reopened the barrow, he found that it had been constructed of yellowish brown loamy sediment which covered a central core of bluish clay which had evidently been brought in from outside the area. Other burned human bones were found dispersed close to the mound centre, indicating the prior existence of a cremation interment.

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:

26551

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

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

End of official list entry

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