Details

The monument includes a round barrow situated at the top of a steep slope
facing west on to the valley of Wester Gill, towards the northern edge of
the Tabular Hills.
The barrow has an earth and stone mound which stands up to 0.6m high and
measures 7m in diameter. The mound was originally surrounded by a ditch up to
2m wide but this has become filled in over the years by soil slipping from the
mound and is only visible now as a slight depression. In the centre of the
mound there is a hollow caused by partial excavation in the past.
The barrow lies within a dense concentration of prehistoric burial monuments
in an area which also includes the remains of prehistoric settlement and land
division.

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

Round barrows 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 mounds, sometimes ditched, which covered
single or multiple burials. They occur either in isolation or grouped as
cemeteries and often acted as a focus of 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 examples recorded nationally (many more have already
been destroyed), occurring across most of Britain, including the Wessex area
where it is often possible to classify them more closely, for example as bowl
or bell barrows. Often occupying prominent locations, they are a major
historic element in the modern landscape and their considerable variation in
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.

The Tabular Hills in the Wykeham Forest area contain a dense concentration of
prehistoric monuments, dating from the Neolithic to the Iron Age, which
includes field systems, enclosures and land boundaries as well as both round
and square barrows. The spatial and chronological relationships between the
round and square barrows in this area, and between both types of barrow and
other prehistoric monuments, are of considerable importance for understanding
the development of later prehistoric society in eastern Yorkshire.
Despite limited disturbance, the round barrow at Wester Gill, 390m north west
of East Moor Farm, has survived well. Significant information about the
original form of the barrow and the burials placed within it will be
preserved. Evidence for earlier land use and the contemporary environment will
also survive beneath the barrow mound and within the buried ditch.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Spratt, D A , 'Prehistoric and Roman Archaeology in North East Yorkshire' in Prehistoric and Roman Archaeology of North East Yorkshire, , Vol. 87, (1993)
Other
3609,

Source: Historic England