Details

The monument includes a round barrow situated on a gentle west facing slope
above Hard Dale Gill, towards the western edge of Broxa Forest.
The barrow has an earth and stone mound which stands up to 0.7m high and
measures 8m in diameter. The mound was originally surrounded by a ditch up to
2m wide which has become in-filled over the years by soil slipping from the
mound so that it is no longer visible as an earthwork. In the centre of the
mound there is a hollow caused by partial excavation in 1949. This
investigation uncovered the remains of five cremations and showed the mound to
have been constructed of stone and covered with a dome of clay.
The barrow lies in an area rich in prehistoric burial monuments.

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.

Despite limited disturbance, the round barrow adjacent to Longhill Road 710m
north west of Highdales 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 in the buried ditch.
The barrow is situated in an area where there are many other burial monuments.
Monument groups such as this offer important scope for the study of the
distribution across the landscape of prehistoric activity for ritual and
social purposes.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Smith, M J B, Excavated Bronze Age Burial Mounds of Durham and N' land., (1994), 148
Other
12614, (1998)

Source: Historic England