Hagworm Hill with Barrow and Seamer Beacon, North Yorkshire

Best enlarged

The OED says a hagworm is "A northern name for the adder or viper; but in some districts applied to the common snake, and in others to the blindworm" (the latter being the slowworm).

Bowl barrows, the most numerous form of round barrow, are funerary monuments dating from the Late Neolithic period to the Late Bronze Age, with most examples belonging to the period 2400-1500 BC. They were constructed as earthen or rubble mounds, sometimes ditched, which covered single or multiple burials.

Although known to have been excavated and partially reconstructed, Hagworm Hill round barrow (left foreground) will still retain archaeological information. Parts of the mound and the buried ditch surrounding it remain undisturbed and further burials may survive. The barrow is one of a group of similar monuments on Seamer Moor and will contribute to an understanding of the development and use of this group.


Seamer Beacon (right backgroound) has an excellent aspect and is perfectly placed to relay signals from Scarborough Castle to the hinterlands of the vale of Pickering and beyond.

There was once a Roman signal station (not to mention Bronze and Iron age settlements) situated on the Scarborough Castle site and given the local barrows and earthworks I think it it safe to assume that this site has been utilised since the Bronze Age.

The position of this site has not been lost on the telecommunications world, there is a large array of dishes and masts situated close to the site, continuity of use or what?

(Located about 2 km from my home)