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Round cairn on western slopes of Dour Hill, 250m south west of summit

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1015844
Date first listed:: 02-Jul-1997

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1015844
Date first listed:: 02-Jul-1997

Location

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

District:: Northumberland (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Rochester
National Park:: NORTHUMBERLAND
National Grid Reference:: NT 79400 02100

Reasons for Designation

Round cairns are prehistoric funerary monuments dating to the Bronze Age (c.2000-700 BC). They were constructed as stone mounds covering single or multiple burials. These burials may be placed within the mound in stone-lined compartments called cists. In some cases the cairn was surrounded by a ditch. Often occupying prominent locations, cairns are a major visual element in the modern landscape. They are a relatively common feature of the uplands and are the stone equivalent of the earthen round barrows of the lowlands. Their considerable variation in form and longevity as a monument type provide important information on the diversity of beliefs and social organisation amongst early prehistoric communities. They are particularly representative of their period and a substantial proportion of surviving examples are considered worthy of protection.

Despite some disturbance from antiquarian investigation and subsequent afforestation, this round cairn on Dour Hill is reasonably well preserved and retains significant archaeological deposits.

Details

The monument includes a round cairn of Bronze Age date situated in a prominent location on the western slopes of Dour Hill, some 170m east of Dour Hill Long Cairn. The cairn is visible as an annular bank of stone and earth 3m wide and 12m in diameter. Within the interior there is a cist, or stone coffin which measures 1.4m by 0.8m and is 0.5m deep. A large slab of stone, which served as the capstone of the cist is lying immediately to its south west. In 1975 the capstone was removed by machine during forestry operations in the area, and the interior was excavated. The fragments of what were thought to be the skeletons of two children, several pieces of Bronze Age pottery, part of a hazelnut shell and a complete Bronze Age pot were removed. It is thought that the pieces of pottery came from a second pot which had been robbed from beneath the capstone by earlier antiquaries. The limited excavation also revealed the existence of a cist construction pit and small areas of burning beneath the surrounding stone of the cairn.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract. It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features, considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:: 28552
Legacy System:: RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Jobey, G, 'Archaeologia Aeliana 5th series' in A Food Vessel Burial On Dour Hill, Byrness, , Vol. 5, (1977), 204-6

Legal

This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.