Round cairn on Birkrigg Common, 600m north west of High Sunbrick 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.

Despite limited investigation at the centre of the monument, the round cairn 600m north west of High Sunbrick Farm survives reasonably well. This investigation has exposed a stone cist or burial chamber, and further evidence of inhumations will exist within the cairn and upon the old landsurface beneath.

Details

The monument includes a round cairn located on a small hillside plateau on Birkrigg Common, 600m north west of High Sunbrick Farm. It includes a turf covered slightly oval-shaped mound of limestone rubble measuring 15m east-west by 14m north-south and up to 0.8m high. At the centre of the cairn there is a small disturbed area indicating the position of an unrecorded investigation of the monument. Within this area of disturbance there are two upright limestone slabs which formed part of the cist or stone chamber within which an inhumation burial would have been placed.

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:

27691

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Gelderd, C, Trans Cumb & West Antiq & Arch Soc. New Ser. in Some Birkrigg Barrows, Vol. XIV, (1914), 466-8

Other
SMR No. 2370, Cumbria SMR, Birkrigg, (1986)
Darvill,T., MPP Single Monument Class Description - Bowl Barrows, (1988)

End of official list entry

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