Eastern bowl barrow of a pair at crossroads east of Craike Hill, 1km NNW of Eastburn Warren Farm

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 bowl barrows here, representing two of the few survivors of the many barrows that formerly existed in this area. Despite partial excavation by J R Mortimer in 1866, and the degree of ploughing which has nearly levelled the barrow mound, the barrow will retain archaeological information relating to the manner of its construction, together with further burials.

Details

The monument includes a Bronze Age bowl barrow situated in the north east corner of a field, to the NNW of Eastburn Warren Farm. The north-south directioned road from Garton to Kirkburn and Eastburn passes close to the eastern side of the monument, whilst an old east-west greenway which intersects the main road in a crossroads here, passes across its northern side. The barrow survives as a very low spread mound 25m in diameter and 0.3m in height and is surrounded by a ditch around 2m wide which, although infilled by ploughing through the course of time and now no longer visible at ground level, will survive as a buried feature. The barrow is one of a pair in this field, two of the few survivors of the many Bronze Age barrows which once existed in this part of the Yorkshire Wolds. The barrow ditch extends underneath the paved highway to the east; the metalled surface of the road is excluded from the scheduling, together with the modern post and wire fencing to the north and east of the barrow, although the ground beneath them is included in both cases.

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:

26531

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Mortimer, J R, Forty Years Researches in British and Saxon Burial Mounds of East Yorkshire, (1905), 235-7

Other
Humberside SMR, Sites and Monuments Records Sheet, (1994)
Bastow, M.E., AM107, (1990)
Walker, J., AM12, (1979)
Saunders, AD, AM7, (1966)
Bastow, M.E., AM107, (1994)
Bastow, M.E., AM107, (1988)

End of official list entry

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