Details

The monument includes the buried and earthwork remains of a prehistoric burial
mound next to an Ordnance Survey trig point on the south western side of the
summit of Siss Cross Hill, 970m west of Black Beck Swang.
The barrow is the south westernmost of an alignment of four barrows and a
small enclosure on the summit of the hill which are in turn all aligned with a
large barrow, part of Robin Hood's Butts, 940m to the north east. The round
barrow is intravisible with the others in the group and is prominently sited
on the south western edge of the hill top. The mound measures 20m in diameter,
and up to 0.8m high with an irregular central depression.
There is no ditch visible around the barrow, although excavation of other
barrows has shown that even where no encircling depression is discernible on
the modern ground surface, ditches immediately around the outside of barrows
frequently survive as infilled features, containing additional archaeological
deposits.

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.

Excavation of other round barrows in this region has 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, typically
dating to the Bronze Age. A common factor is that barrows were normally used
for more than one burial and that the primary burial was frequently located on
or below the original ground surface, often with secondary burials within 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.
This round barrow on the summit of Siss Cross Hill is one of an important
group of barrows which includes an oval enclosure which is interpreted as an
enclosed Bronze Age urnfield, a nationally rare form of Bronze Age funerary
monument.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Smith, M J B, Excavated Bronze Age Burial Mounds of Durham and N' land., (1994)

Source: Historic England