Flat Howe round barrow and wayside cross base

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.

Excavation of round barrows on the North Yorkshire Moors have shown that they demonstrate a very wide range of burial rites from simple scatters of cremated material to coffin inhumations and cremations contained in urns, typically dating to the Bronze Age. A common factor is that the barrows were normally used for more than one burial and that the primary burial was frequently on or below the original ground surface, often with secondary burials located within the body of the mound. Flat Howe round barrow is a good example of its type. Many barrows were disturbed by antiquarians, especially in the 19th century, but Flat Howe appears to have escaped any excavation. Flat Howe has an added importance for being located close to a prehistoric standing stone, the Margery Bradley stone. The importance of the monument is heightened by the added historical interest produced by the siting of a medieval wayside cross at its centre. Wayside crosses are one of several types of Christian cross erected during the medieval period, typically acting as waymarkers in otherwise unmarked terrain for routes for parishioners from outlying settlements, for funeral processions, long distance pilgrimage routes or merely the path linking settlements. Over 350 wayside crosses are known nationally, concentrated in the south west in Cornwall and on Dartmoor, with a small group found on the North Yorkshire Moors. Wayside crosses contribute significantly to our understanding of medieval religious customs, and to our knowledge of medieval route ways and settlement patterns.

Details

The monument includes the remains of a round barrow surviving as an upstanding earthwork, surmounted by the remains of the base for a medieval wayside cross. The barrow lies within heather moorland, 200m west of the Castleton to Hutton-le-Hole road, and 30m NNW of a boundary stone marking the boundary between Farndale East and Westerdale parishes. The barrow survives as a 20m diameter mound, standing up to 0.7m high. Excavations of similar barrows on the moors demonstrate that encircling ditches are very common, although these tend to be silted, surviving as infilled features. Flat Howe round barrow is also considered to have a mainly silted encircling ditch. The top is slightly flattened and at its centre there are the remains of a roughly dressed stone cross base. The base is square in plan, 1m across with chamfered corners and a central socket for the cross shaft measuring about 0.3m square. The cross base is thought to have originally been of a single piece, but is now missing its south eastern corner and the surviving section is split in two. Flat Howe round barrow lies 240m west south west of the Margery Bradley standing stone which is broadly of the same period and is the subject of a separate scheduling.

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:

30137

Legacy System:

RSM

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