Reasons for Designation
Square barrows are funerary monuments of the Middle Iron Age, most examples
dating from the period between c.500 BC and c.50 BC. The majority of these
monuments are found in the area 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, which may be square or rectangular, 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. 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 burial 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.
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.
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 very large number of burial monuments includes
particularly rare examples of square barrows surviving as upstanding
earthworks, and these will preserve a range of evidence within and upon the
flat topped mounds which does not survive on plough flattened examples
elsewhere. These square barrows form an important group of this monument type
which will provide valuable insight into cultural development during the Iron
Age. The spatial and chronological relationships between the round and square
barrows in the Wykeham Forest 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.
Unlike many barrows in this area the northern barrow of the group 660m south
of Mount Misery has not been excavated and survives in a good state of
preservation. Despite disturbance, the other three barrows have also survived
well. Significant information about the date and original form of all four
barrows, the burials placed beneath them and any rituals associated with their
construction and use will be preserved. Flat graves will survive in the
intervening areas and evidence for the chronological relationship between the
barrows will be preserved. Evidence for earlier land use and the contemporary
environment will also survive beneath the barrow mounds and within the lower
ditch fills.
Details
The monument includes a square barrow and a cluster of three immediately
adjacent square barrows situated on level ground towards the northern scarp
edge of the Tabular Hills.
The individual barrow has a well-defined, flat-topped earthen mound standing
up to 1m high. It is almost square in plan, orientated approximately north to
south and has sides measuring 7m. In the centre of the mound there is a small
hole which is the result of the removal of an Ordnance Survey triangulation
pillar. The mound was originally surrounded by a ditch which survives up to 2m
wide and 0.3m deep on the south and east sides of the mound. On the west side
the ditch is no longer visible, having become filled in over the years by soil
slipping from the mound, and on the north side it has become buried beneath a
forestry track. The north edge of the mound has been slightly truncated during
the construction of the same track.
The three adjacent barrows lie in a tight cluster 30m to the ESE. At the west
side of the cluster there are two barrows orientated approximately north to
south in line with each other. Both barrows have earthen mounds which are
almost square in plan with sides measuring 4m. The northern barrow has a
flat-topped mound standing up to 0.4m, high while the southern barrow mound is
more irregular, standing between 0.3m and 0.5m high. Both mounds were
originally surrounded by a ditch. These survive up to 1m wide and 0.3m deep on
the north and south sides of the mounds with a 1m gap between the two ditches,
although they have been disturbed by forestry ploughing on the remaining two
sides. The third barrow in the cluster lies 6m to the east of the others.
Originally it would have had a mound and surrounding ditch of similar
dimensions to the other two barrows. However, its mound has been disturbed by
forestry ploughing and the ditch has become filled in over the years so that
now the barrow is visible only as an irregular hump measuring up to 3m across.
Forestry furrows run in a north to south direction over the top of all three
mounds.
The monument lies close to other clusters of square barrows within a dense
concentration of prehistoric burial monuments, in an area which also includes
the remains of prehistoric settlement and land division.
The surfaced forestry track which passes the north edge of the northern mound
in an east to west direction is excluded from the scheduling, although the
ground beneath it is included.
MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
