Details

The monument includes a round barrow situated in a prominent position on a
ridge at the north edge of the North York Moors. The barrow has a well defined
earthen mound standing up to 1.4m high and 18m in diameter. The mound was
originally surrounded by a ditch up to 3m wide which has become filled in over
the years and is no longer visible as an earthwork. In the centre of the mound
there is a hollow caused by partial excavation in the past. These excavations
produced two cremation burials, one of them within an urn, as well as a large
quantity of flint implements.
The barrow lies in an area rich in prehistoric monuments including further
barrows, field systems and clearance cairns.

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, the round barrow 680m north west of Black Beck
Swang survives well. Significant information about the original form of the
barrow and the burials placed within it will be preserved. Evidence for
earlier land use will also survive beneath the barrow mound and within the
buried ditch. Together with other barrows in the area, it is thought to
represent a territorial marker. Similar groups of monuments are also known
across the west and central areas of the North York Moors, providing important
insight into burial practice. Such groupings of monuments offer important
scope for the study of land division for social and ritual purposes in
different geographical areas during the prehistoric period.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Crawford, G M, Bronze Age Burial Mounds in Cleveland, (1980)
Smith, M J B, Excavated Bronze Age Burial Mounds of Durham and N' land., (1994)
Spratt, D A , 'Prehistoric and Roman Archaeology in North East Yorkshire' in Prehistoric and Roman Archaeology of North East Yorkshire, , Vol. 87, (1993)

Source: Historic England