Details

The monument includes a round Iron Age barrow 400m south east of Station
Farm.
The barrow includes a central flat topped mound which survives up to 1m in
height and 8m in diameter and is surrounded by a shallow ring ditch around 2m
in width.
The size and shape of the barrow mound and its proximity to the Iron Age
square barrows in the cemetery at Scorborough have led to its interpretation
as one of the rarer forms of round Iron Age barrows, a monument class which is
more commonly square or rectangular.

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

Square barrows are funerary monuments of the Middle Iron Age, mostly dating
from the period between c.500 BC and c.50 BC. The majority of these monuments
are found between the River Humber and the southern slopes of the North
Yorkshire Moors, but a wider distribution has also been identified,
principally through aerial photography, spreading through the river valleys of
the Midlands and south Essex. Around 200 square barrow cemeteries have been
recorded; in addition, a further 250 sites consisting of single barrows or
small groups of barrows have been identified.
Square barrows were constructed as earthen mounds surrounded by a ditch and
covering one or more bodies. Slight banks around the outer edge of the ditch
have been noted in some examples. Despite the term `square', barrows can vary
in shape. The majority are truly square, although many have rounded corners
and some are more rectangular in plan. A few, however, occurring both in
square barrow cemeteries and individually, are actually round in plan, but
distinguishable from earlier Bronze Age round barrows by their smaller size.
The main burial is normally central and carefully placed in a rectangular or
oval grave pit, although burials placed on the ground surface below the mound
are also known.
A number of different types of burials have been identified, accompanied by
grave goods which vary greatly in range and type. The most elaborate include
the dismantled parts of a two-wheeled vehicle placed in the grave with the
body of the deceased. Some Iron Age barrows have been associated with an
unusual burial ritual of `spearing the corpse'.
Ploughing and intensive land use since prehistoric times have eroded and
levelled most square barrows and very few remain as upstanding monuments,
although the ditches and the grave pits, with their contents, will survive
beneath the ground surface. The different forms of burial and the variations
in the type and range of artefacts placed in the graves provide important
information on the beliefs, social organisation and material culture of these
Iron Age communities and their development over time. All examples of square
barrows which survive as upstanding earthworks, and a significant proportion
of the remainder, are considered of national importance and worthy of
protection.

The monument survives in fair condition, and represents one of the few
surviving individual Iron Age round barrows in this area. Round Iron Age
barrows are a rarer variant of the more common square barrow form. It is
thought to be related to the larger cemetery of Iron Age square barrows at
Scorborough.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Stead, I M, Iron Age Cemeteries in East Yorkshire, (1991), 7-9;17
Stead, I M, 'East Riding Archaeologist' in La Tene Cemetery At Scorborough, East Riding, , Vol. 11, (1975), 1-11

Source: Historic England