Cairn 800m WSW Of Offerton House

Reasons for Designation

The East Moors in Derbyshire includes all the gritstone moors east of the River Derwent. It covers an area of 105 sq km, of which around 63% is open moorland and 37% is enclosed. As a result of recent and on-going archaeological survey, the East Moors area is becoming one of the best recorded upland areas in England. On the enclosed land the archaeological remains are fragmentary, but survive sufficiently well to show that early human activity extended beyond the confines of the open moors. On the open moors there is significant and well-articulated evidence over extensive areas for human exploitation of the gritstone uplands from the Neolithic to the post-medieval periods. Bronze Age activity accounts for the most intensive use of the moorlands. Evidence for it includes some of the largest and best preserved field systems and cairnfields in northern England as well settlement sites, numerous burial monuments, stone circles and other ceremonial remains which, together, provide a detailed insight into life in the Bronze Age. Also of importance is the well preserved and often visible relationship between the remains of earlier and later periods since this provides an insight into successive changes in land use through time. A large number of the prehistoric sites on the moors, because of their rarity in a national context, excellent state of preservation and inter-connections, will be identified as nationally important.

Round cairns are prehistoric funerary monuments dating to the Bronze Age (c.2,000-700 BC). They were constructed as stone mounds covering single or multiple burials. These burials may be placed within the mound in stone lined compartment called cists. They are a relatively common feature of the uplands and are the stone equivalents 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 prehistoric communities. They are particularly representative of their period and a substantial proportion of surviving examples are considered worthy of protection. The cairn 800m WSW of Offerton House is important as a relatively rare, near- complete example and as such is likely to contain undisturbed buried remains.

Details

The monument includes a large prehistoric cairn located in a prominent position in open moorland. Its size, relative isolation, and position in the landscape indicate that it is a funerary monument. The cairn is slightly ovoid in shape and measures 18m by 15m and stands approximately 0.7m high. In the centre of the cairn are small depressions which may be minor, undocumented excavations or the results of stone robbing. Apart from the depressions, and minor damage to the sides of the cairn, it is a well preserved example and is therefore likely to retain undisturbed burial remains. The monument has a complex structure consisting of a flat-topped platform with an inner cairn of approximately 11m diameter situated on top of it. The cairn is interpreted as dating from the Bronze Age and it stands close to evidence for extensive contemporary settlement and agriculture on the same moorlands.

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:

31254

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Barnatt, J W, Derbyshire Archaeological Journal in Bronze Age Remains on the East Moors of the Peak District, Vol. 106, (1986), 67-8

Other
Barnatt, J W, Peak District Barrow Survey, 1989, unpublished survey
Barnatt, J W, Peak District Barrow Survey, 1989, unpublished survey

End of official list entry

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