Details

The monument includes a round barrow situated in a prominent position on the
west edge of Hambleton Down.
The barrow has a well defined earth and stone mound standing 1.8m high. It is
round in shape and 14m 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. Excavations in 1864 discovered two burials and a cremation
associated with food vessels within the mound.
There are many similar barrows on this area of the Hambleton Hills. Many of
these lie in closely associated groups, and are associated with a system of
later prehistoric boundaries. They provide evidence of territorial
organisation marking divisions 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 limited disturbance this barrow has survived well. Significant
information about the 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 represent a territorial
marker. The barrows are associated with a later prehistoric linear boundary
system which divided the terrain into discrete units, formalising divisions
created by the barrows. Such groupings of monuments offer important scope for
the study of the division of land for social, ritual and agricultural purposes
in this area during the prehistoric period.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Kinnes, I A, Longworth, I H, The Greenwell Collection, (1985), 90
Spratt, D A , 'Prehistoric and Roman Archaeology in North East Yorkshire' in Prehistoric and Roman Archaeology of North East Yorkshire, , Vol. BAR 104, (1993), 116-132

Source: Historic England