Silpho Moor Square Barrow, South-East of Breckenhurst

This square barrow lies on a gentle south-west-facing slope near the north-eastern scarp edge of the Hackness Hills, south-east of Breckenhurst. The surviving earth-and-stone mound is approximately five metres along each side and only thirty centimetres high. Forestry ploughing rounded its profile and contributed to the infilling of the surrounding ditch, which no longer appears as a surface earthwork. The square plan distinguishes its original design from the more numerous round barrows of earlier prehistoric traditions. Square barrows belong principally to the Middle Iron Age, but the designation does not provide an individual excavation account or identify this monument’s occupants. Its surviving deposits contribute to understanding burial practice within an area containing many prehistoric funerary sites. The low mound is therefore the reduced remains of a formerly more clearly defined burial earthwork. Period: Middle Iron Age; monument-type attribution Grid reference: SE 96235 94221 Protection: Scheduled monument Source: Historic England, https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1019473 (Open Government Licence). © Historic England 2026. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.