Round barrow on Suffield Moor, 750m south of Silpho Brow Farm

Overview

Heritage Category: Scheduled Monument

List Entry Number: 1019624

Date first listed: 09-Mar-2001

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 98169 92564

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 Suffield Moor, 750m south of Silpho Brow Farm is one of the largest and best preserved on the Hackness Hills. 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 and within the buried ditch. The barrow was originally among a group of at least twelve burial monuments distributed across the south eastern part of Suffield Moor. Such clusters provide important insight into the development of ritual and funerary practice during the prehistoric period.

History

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

Details

The monument includes a round barrow situated on level ground towards the top of the eastern scarp edge of the Hackness Hills. The barrow has an earth and stone mound which stands up to 1.4m high and has a maximum diameter of 16m. In the centre of the mound there is a slight hollow which is the result of partial excavation in the past. The mound was originally surrounded by a ditch up to 2m wide but this has become infilled over the years by soil slipping from the mound so that it is no longer visible as an earthwork. The barrow lies in an area where there are many other 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: 34555

Legacy System: RSM

Sources

Other
4379.10,
Title: Forestry Commission Areas North York Moors Archaeological Survey Source Date: 1992 Author: Publisher: Surveyor: Site 3.22

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.