Round barrow 520m north west of St Hilda's Church, Ellerburn

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1020693
Date first listed:: 11-Jun-1968

This monument is almost hidden due to the farmers continued ploughing — Uploaded by Brian Walker This photo may not represent the current condition of the site. Almost 350,000 images and stories have been added to the Missing Pieces Project so far. Share your story.
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Location

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1020693
Date first listed:: 11-Jun-1968
Date of most recent amendment:: 24-Apr-2002

Location

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

District:: North Yorkshire (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Thornton-le-Dale
National Park:: NORTH YORK MOORS
National Grid Reference:: SE 83741 84547

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 disturbance, the round barrow 520m north west of St Hilda's Church, Ellerburn has surviving archaeological deposits which will preserve information about the original form of the barrow and the burials placed within it. Evidence for earlier land use and the contemporary environment will also survive beneath the barrow mound. The barrow lies in an area where there are many other prehistoric burial monuments. The association with similar monuments provides insight into the distribution of ritual and funerary activity across the landscape during the prehistoric period.

Details

The monument includes a round barrow which is situated on a gentle south-facing slope towards the southern edge of the Tabular Hills. The barrow originally had an earth and stone mound 23m in diameter, but this has now been levelled by ploughing, so that it is visible only as a slight rise in the surface of the field. The round barrow lies in an area in which there are many other prehistoric monuments, including further barrows and the remains of prehistoric land division.

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:: 35168
Legacy System:: RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Spratt, D A , 'Prehistoric and Roman Archaeology in North East Yorkshire' in Prehistoric and Roman Archaeology of North East Yorkshire, (1993)
Other
Craster, OE, AM7, (1967)

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 Culture, Media and Sport.