Details

The monument includes a Bronze Age bowl barrow on Huggate Wold, situated
approximately 1.5km due south of Fridaythorpe Village and 580m north west of
Horsedale Plantation, in fields between Holm Dale to the north east, and Horse
Dale to the south. The barrow is one of a group of six barrows surviving in
close proximity in this area, which together form part of a much larger group
of bowl barrows dispersed across Huggate Wold and Huggate Pasture.
Although altered over the years by agricultural activity which has reduced the
height of the mound and spread its surface, the barrow is still just visible
as a low mound 0.2m high and 22m in diameter. It is surrounded by a ditch up
to 3m wide which, although infilled by ploughing and no longer visible at
ground level, will survive as a buried feature.
The monument was originally part of a much larger cemetery of 20 barrows
existing adjacent to an ancient trackway, which is itself related to the
ancient greenway in the Wolds of East Yorkshire, now known as the Wolds Way.
The barrow cemetery lies around 800m to the north of the linear bank system of
Horse Dale, and Holm Dale to the east, and should therefore be viewed in the
context of the wider ancient landscape, where very extensive systems of banks,
dykes and hollow ways link large tracts of the countryside in this area of the
Yorkshire Wolds.
The barrow was partly excavated by J R Mortimer in March 1882, when it was
observed to have been much reduced in height by the effects of ploughing even
then, when it stood to a height of 0.75m.
A central grave, orientated north-south and measuring 2.1m by 1.4m and 1m in
depth, was found to have been partly emptied during an earlier excavation by
James Silburn. At the northern, undisturbed end of the grave, however, the
decayed leg bones of an adult interment were discovered, with the bones of a
small infant at its feet, the upper portion having been removed by the earlier
excavation. Fragments of human bones and the vertebra of a red deer were found
in the disturbed end of the grave cut.
An inverted food vessel was found 0.6m from the east side of the grave and
0.3m above the base of the mound.

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.

The monument is one of a closely associated group of barrows on Huggate Wold.
The location of the barrows alongside an ancient greenway, and close to the
very extensive systems of dykes and hollow ways dating back to the Bronze Age,
offers important insights into ancient land use and territorial divisions for
social, ritual and agricultural purposes in this area of the Yorkshire Wolds.
Despite part excavation by J R Mortimer in 1882, an earlier, unrecorded
excavation, and the effects of ploughing over many years, the barrow still
survives as a visible feature in the landscape, and will contain further
burials and archaeological information relating to its construction.

Source: Historic England

Sources

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

Source: Historic England