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Acklam Wold barrow group: a bowl barrow 450m south of Acklam Wold House

A Scheduled Monument in Acklam, North Yorkshire

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Coordinates

Latitude: 54.0455 / 54°2'43"N

Longitude: -0.7829 / 0°46'58"W

OS Eastings: 479788.534903

OS Northings: 461738.794476

OS Grid: SE797617

Mapcode National: GBR QPZN.9K

Mapcode Global: WHFBV.YLB1

Entry Name: Acklam Wold barrow group: a bowl barrow 450m south of Acklam Wold House

Scheduled Date: 13 August 1993

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1011574

English Heritage Legacy ID: 20556

County: North Yorkshire

Civil Parish: Acklam

Traditional County: Yorkshire

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): North Yorkshire

Church of England Parish: West Buckrose

Church of England Diocese: York

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow, located on the edge of Deep Dale, which
is one of a number of barrows situated on the crest of Acklam Wold. This
particular barrow is one of two which lie to the south of a ploughed-out
cross-dyke, a later prehistoric boundary feature which originally sub-divided
the southern end of Acklam Wold.
Although altered by agricultural activity, the barrow is still visible as a
mound 0.5m high and 27m in diameter. A ditch, from which material used to
construct the barrow was originally obtained, surrounds the mound, although it
has become infilled over the years and is no longer visible at ground level.
The barrow was recorded and partially excavated by J R Mortimer in 1878; he
discovered three skeletons in two shallow graves covered with large flints.

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.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

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.

Although the barrow has been partially altered by agricultural activity, it is
still visible as a slight earthwork and was also comparatively well-documented
during a campaign of fieldwork in the 19th century. Further evidence of the
structure of the mound, the surrounding ditch and the burials will survive.
The monument is one of a closely associated group of barrows which have
further associations with broadly contemporary boundary earthworks in the
vicinity of Acklam Wold. Similar groups of monuments are also known from other
parts of the Wolds and from the southern edge of the North York Moors. Such
associations between monuments offer important scope for the study of the
division of land for social, ritual and agricultural purposes in different
geographical areas during the prehistoric period.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Mortimer, J R , Forty Years Researches in British and Saxon Burial Mounds of East Yorkshire, (1905), 93-4

Source: Historic England

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