Ancient Monuments

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Round barrow south west of Uncleby Wold Barn

A Scheduled Monument in Kirby Underdale, East Riding of Yorkshire

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Coordinates

Latitude: 54.0235 / 54°1'24"N

Longitude: -0.7465 / 0°44'47"W

OS Eastings: 482215.886658

OS Northings: 459343.163427

OS Grid: SE822593

Mapcode National: GBR RP7X.5F

Mapcode Global: WHFC2.H4Q9

Entry Name: Round barrow south west of Uncleby Wold Barn

Scheduled Date: 19 August 1992

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1009387

English Heritage Legacy ID: 21059

County: East Riding of Yorkshire

Civil Parish: Kirby Underdale

Traditional County: Yorkshire

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): East Riding of Yorkshire

Church of England Parish: Kirby Underdale All Saints

Church of England Diocese: York

Details

The monument includes a round barrow located on the edge of a former chalk
quarry on Uncleby Wold. The barrow survives as a mound 16m in diameter and
0.9 metres high and is surrounded by a ditch which survives as a buried
feature. A third of the monument, located on the south-east side, was
quarried away prior to 1860. The barrow was investigated on several occasions
between 1860 and 1876. This work revealed that an infilled ditch around the
mound been used for the interment of twelve Bronze Age inhumations and one
cremation. Subsequently a further twenty Anglo-Saxon burials were also
inserted. The original mound covered a central Bronze Age grave containing
four crouched burials, two pottery drinking cups, flint knives, and animal
bones. Around this were four other graves each containing a single crouched
burial, one accompanied by a child burial. Three further graves were inter-
connected, and contained further worked flints, pottery sherds and animal
bones. The Anglo-Saxon burials were accompanied by a range of grave goods
including bronze brooches, coloured beads, a bronze box, an iron knife and
remains of a satchel. The monument is associated with an adjacent barrow
60m to the north, a separate scheduling, which was also extensively
re-used in the Anglo-Saxon period.

MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.

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.

Despite the partial excavations of this monument and the loss of a third of
the site to quarrying, the rest of the barrow survives reasonably well.
Excavation revealed that the original barrow had been re-used in the
Anglo-Saxon period. Such re-use is rare in the Yorkshire Wolds and
significantly enhances the importance of the monument. The barrow will retain
further archaeological information, including evidence for the manner in which
the barrow was constructed and re-used and further burial remains.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Mortimer, J , Burial Mounds of East Yorkshire, (1905), 113-7

Source: Historic England

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