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 group of closely associated barrows on Huggate Wold.
The location of the barrows alongside an ancient greenway, close to the very
extensive systems of dykes 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 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 in
fields about 300m south of the A166 on Huggate Wold, 400m NNW of East
Greenwick Farm. The barrow is one of a large group of barrows surviving in
this area.
Lying close to the ancient trackway on the western side of the Wolds, part of
which survives today and is known as the Wolds Way, the monument forms part of
a broadly related and extensive complex of prehistoric earthworks, including
bowl barrows, barrow cemeteries, linear bank and ditch systems dispersed
across Huggate and Warter Wolds and Huggate Pasture. It should therefore be
viewed in the context of the wider ancient landscape in this region of the
Yorkshire Wolds.
Although altered over the years by agricultural activity which has
considerably reduced the height of the mound and spread its surface, the
barrow is still visible as a low rise in the ground, up to 0.2m high and about
20m in diameter. It is surrounded by a ditch up to 3m wide which, although
infilled by ploughing and now no longer visible at ground level, will survive
as a buried feature.
The barrow was partly excavated by J R Mortimer in 1882, who found a small
basin-like hole, 0.33m in diameter and 0.23m deep, made into the surface of
the original ground level in the centre of the mound. It had smoothed sides
and contained charcoal, together with a few burnt human bones, which was
interpreted to be the remains of a cinerary urn. A lens of bluish clay up to
0.45m thick at the centre was found covering the interment, and was thought to
have been brought in from a distance of no less than 2.4km away.
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.
