Round barrow 240m south west of Hatcliffe Manor House

Reasons for Designation

Bowl barrows, the most numerous form of round barrow, 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 or rubble mounds, sometimes ditched, which covered single or multiple burials. They occur either in isolation or grouped as cemeteries and often acted as a focus for 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 bowl barrows recorded nationally (many more have already been destroyed), occurring across most of lowland Britain. Often occupying prominent locations, they are a major historic element in the modern landscape and their considerable variation of 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 240m south west of Hatcliffe Manor House is a very well- preserved example of a prehistoric burial mound. Very few barrows nationally have escaped disturbance by either antiquarians or agriculture.

Details

The monument includes the earthwork and associated buried remains of a prehistoric burial mound sited at the top of a low rise overlooking the rear of Hatcliffe Manor House. The round barrow is a slightly oval mound, 30m east-west and 35m north-south, which stands about 3m high. It is gently rounded so that its top is a nearly level area 9m in diameter. Although there are no obvious indications of an encircling ditch, excavation of other examples of round barrows 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. A margin to allow for such an infilled ditch up to 3m wide is thus also included within the monument. It is thought that this has never been ploughed, or disturbed by excavation in the past. It is very prominent in the local landscape and is faced directly by the rear of Hatcliffe Manor. The barrow may thus have formed a deliberate landscape focus for the manor house, acting as a backdrop to the original gardens to the rear of the house.

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:

34701

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Other
Record cards, Sites & Monuments Record, 1221, (2000)

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.