Parkin's Stones round cairn on the summit of Benty Hill
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Scheduled Monument
- List Entry Number:
- 1007244
- Date first listed:
- 02-Apr-1965
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:
- 1007244
- Date first listed:
- 02-Apr-1965
- 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:
- Alston Moor
- National Grid Reference:
- NY 66932 43056
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. Parkin's Stones round cairn is well-preserved and its distinctive landscape setting makes it a good example. The monument provides insight into the character of Bronze Age funerary rituals and will contain archaeological deposits relating to the construction and use of the burial mound.
Details
The monument includes the remains of a Bronze Age round cairn situated in a prominent location on the summit of Benty Hill. The cairn measures approximately 10m in diameter and stands up to 1m high. A kerb of edge set stones visible on its western side survives elsewhere as a buried feature and indicates this is a burial mound.
SOURCES PastScape Monument No:- 13752 NMR:- NY64SE1 Cumbria HER:- 2793
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- CU 39
- 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.
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 03:48:44.
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.