Round cairn on Noon Hill

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 two limited excavations of the monument during the 1950s and 1960s, the round cairn on Noon Hill survives reasonably well. These excavations located human remains, flint tools and pottery, and further evidence of interments and associated grave goods will exist within the cairn and upon the old landsurface beneath.

Details

The monument includes a round cairn located on the northern edge of the summit of Noon Hill. It includes a slightly oval mound of earth and stones up to 1.3m high with maximum dimensions of 21m north-south by 19m east-west. On the monument's southern edge there are three partially exposed gritstone boulders which form part of the cairn's kerb. Limited excavation of the cairn in 1958 and again in 1963/4 located the primary burial at the monument's centre. This comprised three cremations interpreted by the excavator as an adult male, adult female, and a child, located beneath a collapsed enlarged food vessel and inserted into a central stone cist. Three or four secondary cremations and a number of flint tools including barbed and tanged arrowheads, scrapers and a knife were also found during these excavations.

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:

23708

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Barnes, B, Man and the changing landscape, (1982), 102

Other
Darvill, T, MPP Single Monument Class Descriptions - Bowl Barrows, (1989)
SMR No. 134, Lancs SMR, Noon Hill, Rivington Moor, (1993)

End of official list entry

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