Tor cairn on Stiperstones, 130m SSE of Manstone Rock.

Reasons for Designation

Tor cairns are ceremonial monuments dating to the Early and Middle Bronze Age (c.2000-1000 BC). They comprise a circular bank of stone rubble, up to 35m in external diameter, sometimes with an entrance and an external ditch, constructed around a natural rock outcrop or tor. Excavated examples have revealed post-holes and pits within the area defined by the ring-bank, some containing burial evidence, and scatters of Bronze Age artefacts. Tor cairns usually occur as single monuments often in association with other types of burial cairn of similar age. They are nationally rare monuments which occur only in areas of high moorland where there are suitable outcrops of rock. The tor cairn on the Stiperstones, hitherto recorded as a round cairn, exhibits the diagnostic characteristics of the class and must be considered as a well preserved example of this rare group of monuments. It survives largely undisturbed and will retain archaeological deposits in the interior between the outcrop and the ring-bank. It will also preserve environmental evidence relating to the landscape in which it was constructed. It is one of several burial cairns of similar age which occur grouped around the Stiperstone outcrops and, as such, contributes important information relating to the density of settlement, social structure and land use of this area of upland during the Bronze Age period.

Details

The monument includes the remains of a tor cairn situated on the summit of Stiperstones, a narrow north to south orientated ridge of high ground. The cairn comprises a ring bank of angular stone rubble construction averaging 1.2m wide and 0.4m high, surrounding a natural stone outcrop with dimensions of 6.6m north to south by 5m east to west and standing 1.2m high. The ring bank is slightly flattened in the south-west quarter, where it lies against the edge of the boulder, before swinging out and away from the outcrop, around the remaining sides, to form a roughly ovoid enclosure 10.3m north to south by 8.5m east to west. There is no visible trace of an entrance. Although no longer visible as a surface feature, a ditch, from which material was quarried during the construction of the ring bank, may survive as a buried feature with an approximate width of 1.5m.

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:

19115

Legacy System:

RSM

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