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If Google Street View is available, the image is from the best available vantage point looking, if possible, towards the location of the monument. Where it is not available, the satellite view is shown instead.
Latitude: 54.4783 / 54°28'41"N
Longitude: -0.9594 / 0°57'33"W
OS Eastings: 467522.59952
OS Northings: 509714.810319
OS Grid: NZ675097
Mapcode National: GBR PJRN.2F
Mapcode Global: WHF8N.7PDQ
Entry Name: Round barrow 590m north west of Box Hall
Scheduled Date: 2 December 1998
Source: Historic England
Source ID: 1018846
English Heritage Legacy ID: 32617
County: North Yorkshire
Civil Parish: Commondale
Traditional County: Yorkshire
Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): North Yorkshire
Church of England Parish: Danby with Castleton and Commondale
Church of England Diocese: York
The monument includes the buried and earthwork remains of a small prehistoric
burial mound sited on a south west facing hillside below Three Howes Rigg. It
is the northern of a pair of barrows and lies in an area of dispersed
prehistoric field system remains that extends across the hillside, mainly to
the south east.
The barrow, which is not prominently sited, is just over 7m in diameter,
standing up to 0.4m high. It is well preserved and shows no evidence of
disturbance by archaeological excavation.
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
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.
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, 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 on or below the original
ground surface, often with secondary burials located within the body of the
mound. Excavation has also shown that shallow ditches immediately encircling
the mounds are common, normally surviving as infilled features rather than as
earthworks. The infill of these ditches will also contain valuable information
about changes in the local environment from the Bronze Age onwards.
The barrow 590m north west of Box Hall is a good example of the smaller type
of Bronze Age round barrow that is sometimes found within areas of prehistoric
field systems. The majority of round barrows in the region were dug into by
19th century antiquarians in search of burials and artefacts, leaving behind a
central depression as evidence of their work. The barrow has escaped
excavation and is thus of particular importance.
Source: Historic England
Other nearby scheduled monuments