Details

The monument includes the buried and earthwork remains of a prehistoric burial
mound sited on top of a low rise on the eastern side of the River Rye, which
forms a gentle north east to south west ridge. Another round barrow, the
subject of a separate scheduling, also lies on this low ridge, 140m to the
NNE.
With the removal of intervening vegetation, the monument is thought to be
intervisible with the line of three round barrows 1.6km to the north west and
may also have been intervisible with the large Pockley Gates round barrow
1.5km to the NNE. The monument is sited on nearly level ground, sloping very
gently away to the south east and slightly more steeply to the north west. It
is on the very edge of a railway cutting for the now dismantled line to
Helmsley built in 1870-72. In 1963 it was recorded as being 100ft (30.4m) in
diameter and 2ft (0.6m) high, the north eastern part being under cultivation.
The barrow still survives as an upstanding earthwork 24m in diameter. The
north eastern two thirds has continued to be ploughed regularly and now stands
up to 0.4m high. The edge of the south western third of the barrow was
destroyed by the construction of the railway cutting, but a 4m wide strip on
the edge of the cutting survives undisturbed by ploughing, standing 0.5m high.
Excavation of other examples of round barrows in the region have shown that
even where no encircling depression is discernible on the modern ground
surface, ditches immediately around the outside of the mound frequently
survive as infilled features, containing additional archaeological deposits. A
margin to allow for such an infilled ditch up to 3m wide around the original
27m diameter extent of the barrow is thus also included within the monument.
Such excavations have also shown that archaeological remains can survive
undisturbed under the plough soil. For instance the primary burial of a round
barrow was typically placed in a pit cut into the original ground surface
before the construction of the covering mound and secondary burials have also
been found in pits cut into ditches encircling barrows.

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 being disturbed by cultivation, the round barrow 300m north of Rye
House Farm will contain archaeological information relating to the monument
and the landscape in which it was built.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
McDonnell, J, A History of Helmsley Rievaulx and District, (1963)

Source: Historic England