Lower Colgarth Hill round cairn
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Scheduled Monument
- List Entry Number:
- 1010541
- Date first listed:
- 29-Jul-1971
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Location
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Scheduled Monument
- List Entry Number:
- 1010541
- Date first listed:
- 29-Jul-1971
- Date of most recent amendment:
- 23-Dec-1994
Location
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- North Yorkshire (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Airton
- National Park:
- Yorkshire Dales
- National Grid Reference:
- SD 90481 57360
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.
Although the monument has sustained slight damage it is still a well preserved example of this monument type and will retain further archaeological remains.
Details
The cairn is situated on the top of Lower Colgarth Hill. The turf covered mound has a smooth profile and rises to a height of approximately 1.5m tapering towards its northern end. It measures 15m by 9m, the long axis running from north east to south west where the slope is more gradual. It is probable that the mound would originally have been fully circular. Its present shape is due to former agricultural operations which have truncated and spread the original mound. The monument was excavated in 1890 and evidence of this disturbance is still visible on the summit of the cairn.
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:
- 24511
- Legacy System:
- RSM
Legal
This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 23-Jun-2026 at 14:05:18.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.