Round cairn on Titterstone Clee Hill, 440m north west of The Blue Stone Farm

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.

The round cairn on the north east facing slope of Titterstone Clee Hill survives well and is a good example of its class. It will contain valuable archaeological evidence relating to its construction and environmental evidence, relating to the landscape in which it was constructed, will survive sealed on the old land surface beneath the mound. It is one of several such monuments which occur on Titterstone Clee Hill and, as such, contributes information relating to the intensity of settlement, nature of land use, burial practices and social structure of the prehistoric community occupying this area of upland during the Bronze Age.

Details

The monument includes the remains of a round cairn situated in open moorland on the north east slope of Titterstone Clee Hill. The cairn remains visible as a well defined, circular and turf covered, stony mound 9.5m in diameter and 0.5m high. There is no trace of a surrounding ditch, from which the material would have been quarried for the construction of the mound, though one will survive as a buried feature estimated as 1m wide. It is considered to be a burial cairn because of its regularity of form, obvious antiquity and false crest location.

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:

19149

Legacy System:

RSM

End of official list entry

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