Loft Howe Square Barrow

Loft Howe stands on level ground near the northern scarp edge of the Tabular Hills in Wykeham Forest. It is an almost square mound of earth and stone, approximately nine metres along each side and up to ninety centimetres high. A surrounding ditch reaches two metres in width and half a metre in depth. A hollow at the centre records partial excavation, but the designation does not identify a surviving account of the burial contents. Square barrows belong principally to the Middle Iron Age and are especially associated with eastern Yorkshire. Many elsewhere were flattened by cultivation, making Loft Howe’s surviving mound particularly valuable. Its setting among both round and square barrows, settlement traces and land boundaries allows comparison between burial practices and the development of the surrounding prehistoric landscape. Period: Middle Iron Age; monument-type attribution Grid reference: SE 94991 88035 Protection: Scheduled monument Source: Historic England, https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1020390 (Open Government Licence). © Historic England 2026. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.