Devil's Lapful Long Cairn, 1km east of Butteryhaugh Bridge

Reasons for Designation

Long barrows were constructed as earthen or drystone mounds with flanking ditches and acted as funerary monuments during the Early and Middle Neolithic periods (3400-2400 BC). They represent the burial places of Britain's early farming communities and, as such, are amongst the oldest field monuments surviving visibly in the present landscape. Where investigated, long barrows appear to have been used for communal burial, often with only parts of the human remains having been selected for interment. Certain sites provide evidence for several phases of funerary monument preceding the barrow and, consequently, it is probable that long barrows acted as important ritual sites for local communities over a considerable period of time. Some 500 long barrows are recorded in England. As one of the few types of Neolithic structure to survive as earthworks, and due to their comparative rarity, their considerable age and their longevity as a monument type, all long barrows are considered to be nationally important.

Devil's Lapful Long Cairn is one of few surviving long cairns in Northumberland. It survives reasonably well and will add to our understanding of Neolithic settlement and activity in the region.

Details

The monument includes the remains of a long cairn of Neolithic date situated on the south west slope of Castle Hill commanding extensive views southwards. The long cairn, orientated NNE to SSW, measures a maximum of 60m long and 14m wide and stands to a maximum height of 2m. It has been constructed of rounded boulders and some stone slabs with smaller stones around the edge. The surface of the cairn, particularly at the north end, has been disturbed by quarrying to construct the adjacent sheep fold which has been built partly into the north west face of the cairn. The above ground walls of the later sheep fold are excluded from the scheduling but the ground beneath them is included.

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:

25106

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Masters, L, Between And Beyond The Walls in The Neolithic Long Cairns of Cumbria and Northumberland, (1984), 59-60
Newbiggin, N, Proc Soc Antiq Ncle 4 ser 7 in Proc Soc Antiq Ncle 4 ser 7, (1935), 166-7

Other
NY 69 SW 07,

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