Reasons for Designation
Square barrows are funerary monuments of the Middle Iron Age, mostly dating
from the period between c.500 BC and c.50 BC. The majority of these monuments
are found 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 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. Despite the term `square', barrows can vary
in shape. The majority are truly square, although many have rounded corners
and some are more rectangular in plan. A few, however, occurring both in
square barrow cemeteries and individually, are actually round in plan, but
distinguishable from earlier Bronze Age round barrows by their smaller size.
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 burials 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. Some Iron Age barrows have been associated with an
unusual burial ritual of `spearing the corpse'.
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.
Details
The monument includes the buried and earthwork remains of a group of
prehistoric burial mounds surviving to the north west of the junction between
Bonby and Broad Lanes on Crook Moor.
In 1850 the Yorkshire Antiquarian Club investigated a number of mounds,
containing what was described as calcareous matter, which is now identified as
cremated bone. The mounds were found to be surrounded by square ditches and
were likened to a larger group of barrows 3km to the south west on Skipwith
Common. Early editions of the Ordnance Survey mark a group of five mounds on
Crook Moor. More recent maps only mark the best preserved example. This
survives as a 10m diameter mound standing up to 0.6m high with evidence of a
surrounding ditch. The rest of the barrows can be seen as breaks of slope at
the edges of level areas standing up to 0.5m high, with the mounds of
individual barrows merging into one another to form larger raised areas.
The line of telegraph poles and all modern fencing that crosses the monument
is excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath is included.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
Legacy System number:
30176
Legacy System:
RSM
Sources
Other
Legal
This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
End of official list entry
