Round cairn 460m NNE of Broadfell

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1011153
Date first listed:: 27-Jul-1964

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1011153
Date first listed:: 27-Jul-1964
Date of most recent amendment:: 17-Jan-1994

Location

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

District:: Westmorland and Furness (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Orton
National Park:: YORKSHIRE DALES
National Grid Reference:: NY 62836 09858

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 minor surface disturbance to the monument's summit, the round cairn 460m NNE of Broadfell survives reasonably well. It is a rare survival in Cumbria of an unexcavated example of this class of monument and will contain undisturbed archaeological deposits within the mound and upon the old land surface beneath.

Details

The monument is a round cairn located on Orton Scar 460m NNE of Broadfell and adjacent to the highest point attained by the road connecting Orton and Appleby. It includes a slightly oval, largely turf-covered mound of limestone rubble up to 1.2m high with maximum dimensions of 17.7m by 17.5m.

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:: 23623
Legacy System:: RSM

Sources

Other
Crow, J., FMW report, (1986)
Cumbria SMR, Cairn 1/3 mile N of Broadfell, (1987)
Darvill,T., MPP Single Monument Class Description - Bowl Barrows, (1988)
RCHME, Westmorland, (1936)

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.