Details

The monument includes a round barrow situated in a prominent position on the
southern flank of Hawnby Moor. The barrow is one of many similar monuments on
the Hambleton Hills.
The barrow has a well defined flat topped earth and stone mound standing 1.8m
high. It is round in shape and 15m in diameter. The centre of this mound has
been disturbed in antiquity leaving an excavated hole 5m in diameter. This
mound was surrounded by a ditch up to 3m wide which has become filled in over
the years and is no longer visible as an earthwork.
It is one of many similar barrows on this area of the Hambleton Hills. Many of
these lie in groups, particularly along the watersheds. They provide evidence
of territorial organisation marking the division of land; divisions which
still remain as some parish or township boundaries.

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.

Despite disturbance to its centre, this barrow survives reasonably well; the
periphery of the mound is intact. Significant information about its original
form, burials placed within it and evidence of earlier land use beneath the
mound will be preserved.
Together with adjacent barrows it is thought to mark a prehistoric boundary in
this area. Similar groupings of barrows are also known across the north and
central areas of the North York Moors providing important insight into burial
practice. Such groupings of monuments also 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
Spratt, D A , 'Prehistoric and Roman Archaeology in North East Yorkshire' in Prehistoric and Roman Archaeology of North East Yorkshire, , Vol. BAR 104, (1993)

Source: Historic England