Ancient Monuments

History on the Ground

This site is entirely user-supported. See how you can help.

Acklam Wold barrow group: a bowl barrow on Wooing Nab

A Scheduled Monument in Acklam, North Yorkshire

We don't have any photos of this monument yet. Why don't you be the first to send us one?

Upload Photo »

Approximate Location Map
Large Map »

If Google Street View is available, the image is from the best available vantage point looking, if possible, towards the location of the monument. Where it is not available, the satellite view is shown instead.

Coordinates

Latitude: 54.0507 / 54°3'2"N

Longitude: -0.7892 / 0°47'21"W

OS Eastings: 479365.108379

OS Northings: 462317.715792

OS Grid: SE793623

Mapcode National: GBR QPXL.XP

Mapcode Global: WHFBV.VGB0

Entry Name: Acklam Wold barrow group: a bowl barrow on Wooing Nab

Scheduled Date: 13 August 1993

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1011539

English Heritage Legacy ID: 20547

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 close to the edge of Wooing Nab,
which is one of a number of barrows situated on the crest of Acklam Wold.
Although altered by agricultural activity and no longer identifiable as an
earthwork, this barrow was recorded and partially excavated in 1849 by W
Proctor of the York Antiquarian Club and in 1868 by J R Mortimer; these
investigations revealed at least four burials in a 2m deep central burial pit.
Early editions of the OS maps show the barrow as a mound 15m in diameter and
Mortimer recorded that the mound was encircled by a flat-bottomed ditch, 3m
wide by 0.6m deep.

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 altered by agricultural activity and
is no longer visible as an earthwork, the encircling quarry ditches and deep
burial pits will survive below ground. The barrow was also comparatively
well-documented during campaigns of fieldwork in the 19th century.
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), 90-2
Other
6" and 25" Series,

Source: Historic England

Other nearby scheduled monuments

AncientMonuments.uk is an independent online resource and is not associated with any government department. All government data published here is used under licence. Please do not contact AncientMonuments.uk for any queries related to any individual ancient or schedued monument, planning permission related to scheduled monuments or the scheduling process itself.

AncientMonuments.uk is a Good Stuff website.