Round barrow on Scawton Moor, 480m north east of High Lodge

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 round barrow on Scawton Moor, 480m north east of High Lodge, is one of the best preserved of an extensive group of round barrows on Scawton Moor which together will retain important information about Bronze Age society in the area.

Details

The monument includes earthwork and associated buried remains of a prehistoric burial mound located at the southern, uphill end of Claythwaite Rigg, overlooking the confluence of Nettle Dale and Rye Dale to the north. The monument is one of a group of round barrows scattered for 3.5km along the north side of the watershed to the south of Rye Dale. The other surviving round barrows of this group are the subject of separate schedulings. The barrow is intervisible with a second on Claythwaite Rigg 140m SSE and, without intervening trees, with a barrow 450m to the WNW. It is also intervisible with a barrow 600m to the south east. It is sited on level ground and is 22m in diameter, 0.7m high with hints of an encircling ditch. In profile, the outer edge of the mound steepens which suggests that the barrow has a stone kerbing concealed beneath the turf. On its western side, forming a tangent to the very edge of the mound orientated NNE to SSW there is a bank 20m long, 2.5m wide, rising to 0.3m high. This is completely turfed over but has been described in the past as being stoney. The bank is included in the 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:

32680

Legacy System:

RSM

End of official list entry

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