Round barrow on Highwood Brow, 990m north east of Brompton Moor House

Reasons for Designation

Round barrows 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 mounds, sometimes ditched, which covered single or multiple burials. They occur either in isolation or grouped as cemeteries and often acted as a focus of 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 examples recorded nationally (many more have already been destroyed), occurring across most of Britain, including the Wessex area where it is often possible to classify them more closely, for example as bowl or bell barrows. Often occupying prominent locations, they are a major historic element in the modern landscape and their considerable variation in 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 Tabular Hills in the Wykeham Forest area contain a dense concentration of prehistoric monuments, dating from the Neolithic to the Iron Age, which includes field systems, enclosures and land boundaries as well as both round and square barrows. The spatial and chronological relationships between the round and square barrows in this area, and between both types of barrow and other prehistoric monuments, are of considerable importance for understanding the development of later prehistoric society in eastern Yorkshire. Despite limited disturbance, the barrow 990m north east of Brompton Moor House survives well. Significant information about the original form of the barrow and the burials placed within it will be preserved. Evidence for earlier land use and the contemporary environment will also survive beneath the barrow mound. The barrow is one in a line of four burial monuments, only three of which survive, and such clusters provide important insight into the development of ritual and funerary practice during the Bronze Age.

Details

The monument includes a round barrow situated in a prominent position at the top of the northern scarp edge of the Tabular Hills. The barrow has an earth and stone mound standing up to 1.2m high. It is round in shape and measures 12m in diameter. In the centre of the mound there is a hollow caused by part excavation in the past, and this extends as a trench towards the eastern edge. The barrow was originally surrounded by a kerb of stones which defined the barrow and supported the mound, but over the years many of these stones have been taken away or buried by soil slipping off the mound, so that the kerb is no longer visible. The barrow lies within a dense concentration of prehistoric burial monuments in an area which also includes the remains of prehistoric settlement and land division.

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:

33504

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Smith, M J B, Excavated Bronze Age Burial Mounds of Durham and N' land., (1994), 138
Lee, G E, Wykeham Archaeological Survey, (1991)

End of official list entry

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