Details

The monument includes a large Neolithic bowl barrow, one of the few barrows
known to date from this early period. It is a member of a wider group of
barrows in this area of the Yorkshire Wolds.
The steep sided barrow mound is 2.75m high and 40m in diameter. A ditch, from
which material was excavated during the construction of the monument,
surrounds the barrow mound. This has become almost entirely in-filled in
places though it survives as a slight depression up to 0.1m deep and 5m wide
on the north-east side of the mound.
The mound was investigated by the 19th century antiquarian J R Mortimer in
August 1894. The cremated remains of a child were found at its centre and the
skeletons of 3 adults, a child, and a juvenile were found on the ancient
ground surface. They were accompanied by the skull and a number of bones from
a pig and fragments from food vessels of Neolithic date. Two other skeletons
were also found; one of these, a woman, was accompanied by a newly-made flint
arrowhead. Also contained in the mound were quantities of bone from a range of
species which included dogs, wolves, grouse, Irish elk, goats, oxen, and deer,
as well as frogs, toads, and water voles.

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 this barrow has been partially excavated it survives well as a
substantial mound. It is one of a small number of larger barrows in the
region and one of the few positively identified as Neolithic in date. Further
evidence of the structure of the mound, the surrounding ditch and burials will
survive. It will also contribute to an understanding of the wider group of
which it is a member.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Mortimer, J R , Forty Years Researches in British and Saxon Burial Mounds of East Yorkshire, (1905), 350-52

Source: Historic England