More information : The slight remains of two Bronze Age round barrows centred SE 9580 8718 and SE 9589 8717 are situated on either side of the Great Moor Road in arable fields just to the south of Wykeham Forest. The pair are probably better considered part of a dispersed group which includes another barrow (SE 98 NE 63) in California Belt about 200 metres north-west. The three are scheduled together as SAM No 526. (1a)
REFERENCES
1a DOE Ancient Monuments in England 1971 259
1b OS 1st edition 6" map 1854
1c OS 6" map correspondent (J G Rutter 22.01.58)
1d Basil H Pritchard/17-FEB-1972/Ordnance Survey Field Investigation
1e Yorkshire Archaeol J 45 1973 78 (TCM Brewster)
1f Manby TG, 1988. Archaeology in Eastern Yorkshire. Sheffield 2.
1g Current Archaeol No 94 Oct 1984 331-2 (TCM Brewster)
1h Trans Scarborough & Dist Archaeol Soc 2 No 9 1966 45-6
1 Amy Lax/30-Jan-1996/RCHME: Wykeham Forest Survey
Both barrows appear on the 1st Edition 6" map. (1b)
They were seen by an OS correspondent on 19th June 1955 who described the western one as `a round barrow clearly visible as a low mound, ploughed, under corn' and the eastern one as `a similar round barrow, ploughed, under grass'. (1c)
In February 1972 the barrows were described as `both clearly visible, but so reduced by ploughing as to be essentially no more than sites' by the Ordnance Survey. (1d)
Both barrows were excavated by T C M Brewster during the 1960s. The western barrow, which he named Hutton Buscel Barrow 1, was excavated in 1961 and 1962. (1e)
The eastern barrow, named Hutton Buscel 2, was excavated in 1965 for the Department of the Environment. (1f) A surrounding kerb of large boulders was revealed, a number of which were decorated with cup marks, grooves, pecked motifs and incised markings. Eighteen of them were taken to Scarborough Museum.
The barrow contained an inner turf mound and a primary burial of a child which only survived as a soil mark. Above the position of the head, just beneath the turf, were four flint scrapers and three other blades. On the pre-barrow surface under the inner mound was a miniature food vessel; another lay just within the kerb. A ritual pit in the outer mound contained small flint blades and hazelnut shells. There were a number of secondary cremation burials in the upper mound, one in an enlarged food vessel, another in a collared urn and one with a pygmy cup. (1g)
Previous finds from the ploughsoil were fragments of a cinerary urn in 1958 and a pygmy cup in 1960. (1h)
During the excavation of Barrow 2, a narrow, shallow ditch filled with peaty soil ran past the western side of the mound, and may well have been part of a square enclosure surrounding the barrow. The ditch did not appear to indicate any great age in its section and may be medieval or later. (1e)
The sites of both barrows are still marked by low mounds, much spread by ploughing, which is presumably nothing more than the backfill from excavation.
SE 9588 8718: A Bronze Age round barrow situated south east of California Belt 270 metres east of Fox Head. The mound has been disturbed by ploughing and an excavation which took place in 1965 and is 0.3 metres high. Originally the barrow was 18 metres in diameter and surrounded by a kerb of cup marked and linear marked stones. These are no longer visible. The mound was found to have been constructed over an inhumation and sealed by a limestone platform. It also contained 4 secondary cremation burials. Scheduled.
SE 9594 8730: Site of Bronze Age round barrow, now descheduled SM 91242.
SE 9580 8719: A Bronze Age round barrow situated south of California Belt 190 metres east of Fox Head. The mound is 0.3 metres high and has been reduced to 18 metres diameter due to ploughing. This barrow was excavated by T Brewster in 1961-2 when 4 cremations were found, 2 with urns. Scheduled.
EH Revised scheduling on 09-May-01. (3)
Monument No. 91242 to the east of Fox Head (SE9594087317) has been descheduled due to mistaken identity as a round barrow when it was originally a pond. EH De-scheduling sent 05-JULY-2001 (only monument No. 91242). (4)
Three Bronze Age barrows are visible as earthworks and cropmarks on air photographs, centred at SE9580 8719. The two eastern-most barrows are visible as mound soilmarks. The barrows vary from 12m to 18m in diameter. The earthwork barrow is extant on the latest 2009 vertical photography.
(5-6) |