Round barrow on Long Hill 430m west of Highdales

Overview

Heritage Category: Scheduled Monument

List Entry Number: 1019463

Date first listed: 06-Oct-2000

Location

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

National Park: NORTH YORK MOORS

National Grid Reference: SE 94540 93127

Summary

Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.

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.

Despite limited disturbance, the round barrow on Long Hill 430m west of Highdales has survived well. Significant information about the original form of the barrow and the burials placed within it will be preserved. Evidence for earlier land use and the contemporary environment will also survive beneath the barrow mound. The barrow is situated in an area where there are many other burial monuments. Monument groups such as this offer important scope for the study of the distribution across the landscape of prehistoric activity for ritual and social purposes.

History

Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.

Details

The monument includes a round barrow situated on a level ridge overlooking Hard Dale Gill, towards the western edge of Broxa Forest. The barrow has an earth and stone mound which stands up to 0.8m high and measures 11m in diameter. In the centre of the mound there is a hollow caused by partial excavation in 1949, which uncovered the remains of three cremations. The barrow lies in an area rich in prehistoric burial monuments.

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: 34527

Legacy System: RSM

Sources

Other
12617, (1998)
Title: Archaeological Survey Forestry Commission Areas North York Moors Source Date: 1992 Author: Publisher: Surveyor:

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 Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.