More information : (SD 27427540) Tumulus (NR) (1)
A low, elongated grass-covered tumulus at Skelmore Heads with two upright stones protruding from the centre of the mound at the eastern end. Apparently the mound was excavated circa 1933 when bone and pottery were recovered, but no written record of the finds were made. Re-excavation in 1957 revealed a large area of disturbance, probably the robbed burial area?, between the two upright stones at the east end of the mound. The stumps of two more stone uprights were also seen towards the west end of the tumulus (see plan). No burial or associated finds were recovered during the excavations but it seemed likely that inhumation had been the funeral rite. Powell concluded that there appeared to be no insular parallel for an elongated tumulus with a spinal row of standing stones. (2-3)
A turf covered mound of earth and stone, 1.5m high with no trace of ditch or retaining circle at SD 27427540. (4)
As described. Surveyed at 1:2500 (see survey diagram with SD 27 NE 2). (5)
SD 274754. Long barrow at Skelmore Heads, scheduled. (6)
Skelmore Heads (SD 274 754), additional reference. (7)
SD 2743 7540 Earthen long barrow of Neolithic date below the hilltop at Skelmore Heads, Great Urswick, near Ulverston, Cumbria.
The barrow survives as a low, roughly oval mound measuring 20.0m by 10.0m; it is 0.9m high close to its eastern end and just 0.3m high at its western end. The northern side appears artificially straight, presumably due to disturbance during construction of the field wall which runs alongside. Two upright stones close to the eastern end of the mound measure 0.3m by 0.3m by 0.9m high and 0.8m by 0.4m by 1.0m high; a slight scarp behind the westernmonst one probably marks the site of the supposed 1927/8 excavation (see source 2 for details).
The stone uprights may have formed a mortuary area at the eastern end of the barrow (8a, and source 2).
The long barrow is directly in line with the entrance to the prehistoric enclosure on top of Skelmore Heads (NMR Number SD 27 NE 2), and this may indicate a Neolithic date for the latter.
This long barrow is one of only 6 in Cumbria and the only known example from the Furness area (8a). Like other long barrows in the north of England it is roughly trapezoidal and faces east. It is at the small end of the size range (20m compared with 112m at Belshiel Law, Northumberland (NMR Number NT 80 SW 5)), and relatively low-lying (82m above OD compared with the majority which are over the 200m contour - see source 7). It is one of only three excavated examples in the north, along with Belshiel Law and Raiset Pike, Cumbria (NMR Number NY 60 NE 1).
The long barrow was surveyed by the RCHME in October a996 during the Industry and Enclosure in the Neolithic Project. See archive report and plan at 1:1000 scale. (8)
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