Three round barrows in Wykeham Forest, known as the Three Tremblers

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 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 spatial and chronological relationships between the round and square barrows in this 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. Despite limited disturbance, the three barrows known as the Three Tremblers have survived well. Significant information about the original form of the barrows and the burials placed within them will be preserved. Evidence for earlier land use and the contemporary environment in which they were constructed will also survive beneath the barrow mounds.

Details

The monument includes three adjacent round barrows situated on level ground towards the northern edge of the Tabular Hills. The barrows have well-defined earthen mounds which each have hollows in the centre, caused by partial excavation in the past. The mound at the north west is 21m in diameter and stands up to 1.7m high. The central mound lies 26m to the south east. It is 18m in diameter and stands up to 1.6m high. The third mound lies 34m to the south east of the central mound. It is 30m in diameter and stands up to 2.7m high. The north western and south eastern barrows were each originally surrounded by a kerb of stones which defined the barrow and supported the mound. However, over the years many of these stones have been taken away or buried by soil slipping off the mound and they are no longer visible. Partial excavation of the south eastern barrow in the 19th century also uncovered a cist, which consisted of stone slabs set into the mound, surrounding and covering a burial. The barrows lie within a dense concentration of prehistoric burial monuments in an area which also includes the remains of prehistoric settlement and land division. A surfaced forestry track runs along the north east side of the line of barrows and passes around the north side of the north western barrow. This 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. 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:

33740

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Smith, M J B, Excavated Bronze Age Burial Mounds of Durham and N' land., (1994), 136-7
Smith, M J B, Excavated Bronze Age Burial Mounds of Durham and N' land., (1994), 136
Spratt, D A, Prehistoric and Roman Archaeology in North East Yorkshire in Prehistoric and Roman Archaeology of North East Yorkshire, Vol. 87, (1993)

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