Green Low ringcairn

Reasons for Designation

A ring cairn is a prehistoric ritual monument comprising a circular bank of stones up to 20m in diameter surrounding a hollow central area. The bank may be kerbed on the inside, and sometimes on the outside as well, with small uprights or laid boulders. Ring cairns are found mainly in upland areas of England and are mostly discovered and authenticated by fieldwork and ground level survey, although a few are large enough to be visible on aerial photographs. They often occur in pairs or small groups of up to four examples. Occasionally they lie within round barrow cemeteries. Ring cairns are interpreted as ritual monuments of Early and Middle Bronze Age date. The exact nature of the rituals concerned is not fully understood, but excavation has revealed pits, some containing burials and others containing charcoal and pottery, taken to indicate feasting activities associated with the burial rituals. Many areas of upland have not yet been surveyed in detail and the number of ring cairns in England is not accurately known. However, available evidence indicates a population of between 250 and 500 examples. As a relatively rare class of monument exhibiting considerable variation in form, all positively identified examples retaining significant archaeological deposits are considered worthy of preservation.

Although Green Low ringcairn has been partially disturbed by excavation, the outer bank and much of the interior are reasonably well preserved and will contain further significant archaeological remains.

Details

Green Low ringcairn is situated on the northern gritstone moorlands of Derbyshire. The monument includes a roughly circular bank of grassed-over stone and also the features enclosed by this bank which include the disturbed remains of a low mound and a number of pits. The bank stands c.0.5m high and is between 2m and 3m wide. It forms a ring measuring 21.5m by 20m inside which there are two large pits on the south side, each measuring c.1m by 0.75m. North of these, lying slightly off-centre, is a low sub-circular ring of c.6m diameter inside which, at the northern end, is another smaller pit. These are the remains of a mound partially excavated by W J Andrew in 1908 and found to contain a collared urn, two stone implements and an incense cup. Ringcairns date to the Early and Middle Bronze Age and it is not yet clear whether the Bronze Age artefacts recovered by Andrew belong to the period of construction or to a slightly later phase of secondary use.

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:

13370

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Bunting, W B, Chapel-en-le-Frith, (1940)
Andrew, WJ, Memorials of Derbyshire, (1907)
Barnatt, J, The Peak District Barrow Survey (1989), (1989)
Barnatt, J, The Peak District Barrow Survey (1989), (1989)
Marsden, B M, The Burial Mounds of Derbyshire , (1977)
Tristram, E, Derbyshire Archaeological Journal in The Stone Circle Known as the Bull Ring, Doveholes, (1915)

End of official list entry

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