Round barrow 560m south west of High Thorgill Farm

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 majority of round barrows in the region were dug into by 19th century antiquarians in search of burials and artifacts, leaving behind a central depression as evidence of their work. However excavations in the latter half of the 20th century have shown that round barrows typically contain archaeological information that survives earlier digging. These excavations 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 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 which were frequently missed by antiquarian excavators. The round barrow 560m south west of High Thorgill Farm will retain archaeological deposits. Its relatively unusual position for the area, close to the scarp edge rather than on a watershed or other more prominent location, gives the barrow additional interest.

Details

The monument includes buried and earthwork remains of a prehistoric burial mound. It is located 560m south west of High Thorgill Farm, to the east of the scarp below Blakey Ridge. The round barrow is located centrally on a slight spur which extends north eastwards from Blakey Ridge, set back 20m-30m from the sharp break of slope down into Rosedale. From it, the Three Howes round barrows to the south east and Blakey Howe to the north west can be seen, but not Pike Howe to the west. However, it is not easily intervisible with these barrows, being only a maximum of 10m in diameter and standing 0.4m high. It is mainly constructed of earth with some stone and shows evidence of antiquarian excavation, with a central hollow 5m in diameter at its top and 1m diameter at the base. Although there is no ditch visible around the barrow, a 3m margin surrounding the mound is included to allow for its likely survival. This is because excavations of other examples in the region have shown that even where no encircling depression is discernible on the modern ground surface, ditches immediately around the outside of the mound frequently survive as infilled features, containing additional archaeological deposits.

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:

32646

Legacy System:

RSM

End of official list entry

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