Reasons for Designation
Square barrows are funerary monuments of the Middle Iron Age, most examples
dating from the period between c.500 BC and c.50 BC. The majority of these
monuments are found in the area between the River Humber and the southern
slopes of the North Yorkshire Moors but a wider distribution has also been
identified, principally through aerial photography, spreading through the
river valleys of the Midlands and south Essex. Around 200 square barrow
cemeteries have been recorded; in addition, a further 250 sites consisting of
single barrows or small groups of barrows have been identified.
Square barrows, which may be square or rectangular, were constructed as
earthen mounds surrounded by a ditch and covering one or more bodies. Slight
banks around the outer edge of the ditch have been noted in some examples. The
main burial is normally central and carefully placed in a rectangular or oval
grave pit, although burials placed on the ground surface below the mound are
also known.
A number of different types of burial have been identified, accompanied by
grave goods which vary greatly in range and type. The most elaborate include
the dismantled parts of a two-wheeled vehicle placed in the grave with the
body of the deceased.
Ploughing and intensive land use since prehistoric times have eroded and
levelled most square barrows and very few remain as upstanding monuments,
although the ditches and the grave pits, with their contents, will survive
beneath the ground surface. The different forms of burial and the variations
in the type and range of artefacts placed in the graves provide important
information on the beliefs, social organisation and material culture of these
Iron Age communities and their development over time. All examples of square
barrows which survive as upstanding earthworks, and a significant proportion
of the remainder, are considered of national importance and worthy of
protection.
The monument is one of a closely associated group of prehistoric earthworks on
Westwood Common, which includes both square and round barrows, as well as
Romano-British enclosures, linear boundary dykes and a short section of Roman
road. The group has survived as part of a rare landscape characterised by
features dating back as far as the Bronze Age, which has owed its survival to
the granting of common grazing rights to the local people of Beverley in the
14th century AD.
The survival of such an extensive area of prehistoric landscape is unusual in
this region of East Yorkshire, where arable agricultural practices have
resulted in the destruction of many earthwork remains of monuments above
ground. It offers important insights into ancient land use and territorial
divisions for social, ritual and agricultural purposes in this area, and the
development of these through time.
The survival of square barrrows as extant earthwork features is particularly
unusual. Unlike the majority of other barrows on the Common, it has not been
excavated by Canon Greenwell, and therefore survives with its burial contents
intact, forming one of an important and well-defined group of Iron Age square
barrows here.
Details
The monument includes an Iron Age square barrow on Westwood Common, Beverley,
230m north west of Blackmill. It is one of an important group of prehistoric
funerary earthworks surviving together on Westwood Common, which represents a
sizeable area of land in which prehistoric earthworks have survived because of
the establishment of common grazing rights here in the 14th century AD.
The monument consists of a low sub-rectangular or semicircular mound 9m in
diameter, and will be surrounded by a ditch up to 2m wide, which, although
infilled and no longer visible at the ground level, will survive as a buried
feature.
Unlike the majority of other barrows on the Common, it is not thought to have
been excavated by Canon Greenwell in the 19th century, and will therefore
survive with its burial contents intact.
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.
