Cairn cemetery 700yds (640m) NE of Cateran Hill
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Scheduled Monument
- List Entry Number:
- 1006453
- Date first listed:
- 08-Jun-1971
Have you got a photo to share?
Join the Missing Pieces Project. We want you to share your photos and memories.
Location
Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.
Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions .
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.
What is the National Heritage List for England?
The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.
The list includes:
 |
Buildings |
 |
Scheduled monuments |
 |
Parks and gardens |
 |
Battlefields |
 |
Shipwrecks |
Local Heritage Hub
Unlock and explore hidden histories, aerial photography, and listed buildings and places for every county, district, city and major town across England.
Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Scheduled Monument
- List Entry Number:
- 1006453
- Date first listed:
- 08-Jun-1971
Location
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- Northumberland (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Bewick
- National Grid Reference:
- NU 10987 23564
Summary
Cairnfield, 755m ESE of Cateran Hole.
Reasons for Designation
Cairnfields are concentrations of cairns sited in close proximity to one another. They often consist largely of clearance cairns, built with stone cleared from the surrounding landsurface to improve its use for agriculture, and on occasion their distribution pattern can be seen to define field plots. However, funerary cairns are also frequently incorporated, although without excavation it may be impossible to determine which cairns contain burials. Clearance cairns were constructed from the Neolithic period (from c.3400 BC), although the majority of examples appear to be the result of field clearance which began during the earlier Bronze Age and continued into the later Bronze Age (2000-700 BC). The considerable longevity and variation in the size, content and associations of cairnfields provide important information on the development of land use and agricultural practices. Cairnfields also retain information on the diversity of beliefs and social organisation during the prehistoric period.
The Cairnfield 755m ESE of Cateran Hole is reasonably well-preserved and is representative of its period. The presence of upstanding cairns indicates that the monument will contain archaeological deposits relating to its construction and use and will inform our understanding of prehistoric land-use.
History
See Details.
Details
This record was the subject of a minor enhancement on 31 May 2016. This record has been generated from an "old county number" (OCN) scheduling record. These are monuments that were not reviewed under the Monuments Protection Programme and are some of our oldest designation records.
The monument includes the remains of a cairnfield of Neolithic/Bronze Age date situated on the north east slopes of Cateran Hill. The group consists of at least 30 cairns which vary in diameter from 2m to 9m and in height from 0.3m to 0.9m. Comparison with other cairnfields suggests that the group will contain a mixture of funerary cairns and clearance cairns.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- ND 495
- Legacy System:
- RSM - OCN
Sources
Other
PastScape Monument No:- 7529
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.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 26-Jun-2026 at 21:14:25.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.