Details

The monument includes the earthwork remains of a prehistoric barrow located
immediately to the west of the wooded gully, Robin Hood's Howl.
Shown as an oval standing earthwork on the first edition Ordnance Survey 25in
map (1853), the barrow has been identified as the example opened at `The Hag'
by Rev W Eastman. Eastman, in his Historia Rievallensis (1824), reported
finding a large quantity of burnt bone together with an urn. A barrow in the
area was also investigated in c.1850 by Thomas Kendall of Pickering who found
calcined (burnt) bones and broken urns.
The monument survives within a field as a low stony mound c.25m in diameter
and c.0.5m high. Excavations of round barrows in the region have shown that
they demonstrate a very wide range of burial rites, from simple scatters of
cremated material to coffin inhumations and cremations contained in urns. A
common factor is that barrows were normally used for more than one burial, and
that the primary burial was frequently below the original ground surface or,
if not, was located on the ground surface rather than in the body of the
mound. Most barrows include a small number of grave goods. These are often
small pottery food vessels, but stone, bone, jet and bronze items have also
occasionally been found. Shallow ditches and/or stone kerbs immediately
encircling the mounds are also quite common.

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.

Starfits round barrow is a typical example of a ploughed North Yorkshire bowl
barrow. Excavations at other similar sites have demonstrated that significant
archaeological information typically survives, even where the earthworks are
continuously ploughed. Where earthwork mounds can still be identified, the
prehistoric ground surface tends to be below the plough horizon, meaning the
primary burials will be undisturbed by modern agriculture. Additionally, any
encircling ditch will survive as an infilled feature.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Eastman, Reverend W , Historia Rievallensis, (1824), 479

Source: Historic England