Round barrow on Gerrick Moor, one of four known as Robin Hood's Butts, 680m north west of Black Beck Swang

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1018802
Date first listed:: 06-Jan-1971

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1018802
Date first listed:: 06-Jan-1971
Date of most recent amendment:: 19-Mar-1999

Location

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

District:: Redcar and Cleveland (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Lockwood
National Park:: NORTH YORK MOORS
National Grid Reference:: NZ 70583 11560

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.

Despite limited disturbance, the round barrow 680m north west of Black Beck Swang 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 will also survive beneath the barrow mound and within the buried ditch. Together with other barrows in the area, it is thought to represent a territorial marker. Similar groups of monuments are also known across the west and central areas of the North York Moors, providing important insight into burial practice. Such groupings of monuments offer important scope for the study of land division for social and ritual purposes in different geographical areas during the prehistoric period.

Details

The monument includes a round barrow situated in a prominent position on a ridge at the north edge of the North York Moors. The barrow has a well defined earthen mound standing up to 1.4m high and 18m in diameter. The mound was originally surrounded by a ditch up to 3m wide which has become filled in over the years and is no longer visible as an earthwork. In the centre of the mound there is a hollow caused by partial excavation in the past. These excavations produced two cremation burials, one of them within an urn, as well as a large quantity of flint implements. The barrow lies in an area rich in prehistoric monuments including further barrows, field systems and clearance cairns.

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:: 31999
Legacy System:: RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Crawford, G M, Bronze Age Burial Mounds in Cleveland, (1980)
Smith, M J B, Excavated Bronze Age Burial Mounds of Durham and N' land., (1994)
Spratt, D A , 'Prehistoric and Roman Archaeology in North East Yorkshire' in Prehistoric and Roman Archaeology of North East Yorkshire, , Vol. 87, (1993)

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.