Long barrow on Newton Mulgrave Moor, 250m east of Birchdale House

Reasons for Designation

Long barrows were constructed as earthen or drystone mounds with flanking ditches and acted as funerary monuments during the Early and Middle Neolithic periods (3400-2400 BC). They represent the burial places of Britain's early farming communities and, as such, are amongst the oldest field monuments surviving visibly in the present landscape. Where investigated, long barrows appear to have been used for communal burial, often with only parts of the human remains having been selected for interment. Certain sites provide evidence for several phases of funerary monument preceding the barrow and, consequently, it is probable that long barrows acted as important ritual sites for local communities over a considerable period of time. Some 500 examples of long barrows and long cairns, their counterparts in the uplands, are recorded nationally. As one of the few types of Neolithic structure to survive as earthworks, and due to their comparative rarity, their considerable age and their longevity as a monument type, all long barrows are considered to be nationally important.

Despite limited disturbance, the long barrow 250m east of Birchdale House survives well. Significant information about the original form of the monument, the burials placed within it and the rituals associated with them will be preserved. Evidence for earlier land use and the contemporary environment will also survive beneath the barrow mound and within the buried quarry ditches. It is one of only a few monuments dating to the Neolithic period to be found in the North York Moors surviving as an earthwork. The long barrow is situated within an area which includes monuments dating from the Bronze and Iron Ages. Associated groups of monuments such as these demonstrate a continuity of occupation throughout the prehistoric period and offer important scope for the study of the distribution and development of prehistoric activity across the landscape.

Details

The monument includes a long barrow situated in a prominent position at the top of a north east and north west facing slope on the edge of the North York Moors. The barrow has an earth and stone mound which is ovoid in shape, with its long axis oriented ESE to WNW. The mound measures 36m in length and is 13m wide at the west end and 20m wide at the east end. It stands up to 2.6m high at the east end, with the top sloping down towards the west. On the top of the mound and on the north side there are a number of small hollows caused by the robbing of stone from the fabric of the mound. Originally the mound would have been narrower and trapezoidal in shape with flanking quarry ditches up to 3m wide along its north and south edges. However, over the years erosion and stone robbing have resulted in a more rounded shape and soil has slipped from the mound, increasing its width and burying the quarry ditches which are no longer visible as earthworks. There would also have been a forecourt area up to 10m wide in front of the east end of the mound where rituals connected with the use of the barrow would have taken place. There is nothing of this visible now, but archaeological remains will survive as subsoil features. The long barrow lies in an area rich in prehistoric remains, including further burial monuments. A public bridleway runs in a north to south direction to the east of the barrow mound and passes immediately adjacent to it at the north east corner. All field boundary walls and a concrete water tank set into the ground to the north of the west end of the barrow are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath these features is included.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

32037

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Spratt, D A, Prehistoric and Roman Archaeology in North East Yorkshire in Prehistoric and Roman Archaeology of North East Yorkshire, Vol. 87, (1993)
Vyner, B E, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society in The Excavation of a Neolithic Cairn at Street House, Loftus, Cld, Vol. 50, (1984), 151-195

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