Cairnfield 210m south west of Throng Moss Reservoir

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Overview

Heritage Category:
Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:
1007213
Date first listed:
08-Feb-1972
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Location

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:
Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:
1007213
Date first listed:
08-Feb-1972
Location Description:
Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.

Location

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

District:
Westmorland and Furness (Unitary Authority)
Parish:
Torver
National Park:
Lake District
National Grid Reference:
SD 27754 92259

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 210m south west of Throng Moss Reservoir survives well and will contain archaeological deposits relating to the construction and use of the monument and environmental deposits relating to the use of the surrounding landscape. The monument provides insight into the character of land use and land clearance during the Bronze Age period.

Details

The monument includes the remains of at least nine Bronze Age cairns situated on level ground on open moorland which rises to the north west. The cairns are all sub-circular in plan and vary in diameter from 3m to 7m with an average height of 0.3m. The larger cairns are located towards the eastern end of the group.

SOURCES PastScape Monument No:- 38848 NMR:- SD29SE16 Lake District National Park HER:- 1634

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:
CU 121
Legacy System:
RSM - OCN

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.

Ordnance survey map of Cairnfield 210m south west of Throng Moss Reservoir

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 19:02:23.

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© Crown copyright [and database rights] 2026. OS AC0000815036. Use of this mapping is subject to Terms and Conditions.

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.

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