Round cairn at Gospel Hillocks, Cowdale
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Scheduled Monument
- List Entry Number:
- 1012595
- Date first listed:
- 10-Jun-1970
Location
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Scheduled Monument
- List Entry Number:
- 1012595
- Date first listed:
- 10-Jun-1970
- Date of most recent amendment:
- 08-Jan-1991
Location
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Derbyshire
- District:
- High Peak (District Authority)
- Parish:
- King Sterndale
- National Park:
- Peak District
- National Grid Reference:
- SK 08706 71575
Reasons for Designation
The cairn is a well-preserved and rare example of an upland Neolithic/Bronze Age burial monument and is part of the rich Bronze Age landscape of the Peak District. Its proximity to an an earlier example is of additional importance. Excavation in the nineteenth century suggests the cairn was utilised over a long period of time, with secondary burials being inserted after the primary pit burial. Despite these early explorations, a significant proportion of undisturbed deposits are anticipated to survive within the cairn and the ditch. In addition, the ancient land surface will be preserved under the cairn.
Details
One of two cairns at Gospel Hillocks, lying c.100m apart. Measuring 14m x 13m in diameter and c.1m high, it was opened in 1896 and found to contain a pit under a large slab in which the primary burial had been laid: a crouched inhumation covered with a mixture of clay, leaves and charcoal and associated with burnt bones. Two later disturbed inhumations were found near the turf, along with flint flakes and additional burnt bones.
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:
- 13208
- Legacy System:
- RSM
Sources
Books and journals
Barnatt, J, The Peak District Barrow Survey (1989), (1989)
Ward, J, Proc. Soc. Antiquities in Proc. Soc. Antiquities (Volume 17), Vol. 17, (1899), 310-12
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 05-Jun-2026 at 14:14:12.
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.