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Wharram Hill embankment cross is a scheduled monument located in Yorkshire, England, at grid reference TA 13306 61044. This archaeological site comprises a linear earthwork forming a cross pattern, extending across approximately 0.13 hectares. The monument is protected by Historic England under scheduled monument reference 1005199.
The site lies upon White Chalk Subgroup bedrock, formed during the Maastrichtian period of the Late Cretaceous, which gives the surrounding landscape its distinctive chalk geology. This chalk substrate would have influenced both the construction and preservation of the embankments that form the cross.
Embankment crosses are ritual or ceremonial monuments associated with medieval landscape divisions and territorial markers. The distinctive cross-shaped plan suggests deliberate design for symbolic or organisational purposes, whether for religious observance, communal assembly, or demarcation of boundaries. The scheduled monument status recognises its significance as an archaeological record of past human activity and landscape organisation in medieval Yorkshire.
Wharram Hill embankment cross is a scheduled monument protected by Historic England under reference 1005199. View the official record →
Wharram Hill embankment cross is a scheduled monument located in Yorkshire, England, at grid reference TA 13306 61044.
Wharram Hill embankment cross is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Historic England (NHLE) — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in England. The official designation reference is 1005199.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Iron Age square barrow cemetery on Haisthorpe Moor, 750m WNW of Demming Farm (1.2 km), Bowl barrow in Lady Boynton's Whin (1.2 km), Medieval complex at Barmston Old Hall, including two moated sites, a pond, three fishponds and associated enclosures with part of a field system. (3.2 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of Wharram Hill embankment cross's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Wharram Hill embankment cross stands on White Chalk Subgroup, bedrock that formed in the Maastrichtian. The rock here is chalk.