The Excavation of the Willerby Wold Long Barrow, East Riding of Yorkshire

Abstract

The long barrow on Willerby Wold, 7 miles south of Scarborough, was dug into about the middle of the 19th century by the Rev. Canon William Greenwell. The results of this excavation are described in his book British Barrows and show the mound to be one of the crematorium long barrows peculiar to Yorkshire.In September 1958 the present excavations began with the sectioning of the south ditch in search of any evidence of occupation so frequently found in long barrow ditches. Further work in 1959 included sections of the mound and as these showed Greenwell's excavations to be of only limited extent a more extensive programme of work was undertaken during 1960 to clear the whole of the eastern end of the mound.