Prehistoric cairnfields, field systems, hut circles and a farmstead on Corney Fell, 440m north west of Buckbarow Bridge

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

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1017175
Date first listed:: 14-Dec-1999

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1017175
Date first listed:: 14-Dec-1999

Location

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

District:: Cumberland (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Waberthwaite
National Park:: LAKE DISTRICT
National Grid Reference:: SD 12908 90673, SD 12968 90219, SD 13079 90690, SD 13343 90775, SD 13540 90717

Reasons for Designation

The Cumbrian uplands comprise large areas of remote mountainous terrain, much of which is largely open fellside. As a result of archaeological surveys between 1980 and 1990 within the Lake District National Park, these fells have become one of the best recorded upland areas in England. On the open fells there is sufficient well preserved and understood evidence over extensive areas for human exploitation of these uplands from the Neolithic to the post- medieval period. On the enclosed land and within forestry the archaeological remains are fragmentary, but they survive sufficiently well to show that human activity extended beyond the confines of the open fells. Bronze Age activity accounts for the most extensive use of the area, and evidence for it includes some of the largest and best preserved field systems and cairn fields in England, as well as settlement sites, numerous burial monuments, stone circles and other ceremonial remains. Taken together, their remains can provide a detailed insight into life in the later prehistoric period. Of additional importance is the well-preserved and often visible relationship between the remains of earlier and later periods, since this provides an understanding of changes in land use through time. Because of their rarity in a national context, excellent state of preservation and inter-connections, most prehistoric monuments on the Lake District fells will be identified as nationally important.

The prehistoric cairnfields, field systems, hut circles and a farmstead on Corney Fell 440m north west of Buckbarrow Bridge survive well and form part of a large area of well-preserved prehistoric landscape extending along the fellsides of south west Cumbria. The monument contains a complex and diverse group of prehistoric monument classes and together these represent evidence of long term management and exploitation of this area in prehistoric times.

Details

The monument includes the earthworks and buried remains of an extensive range of prehistoric monuments, including six cairnfields of various sizes, five field systems, two hut circles, a prehistoric farmstead and a funerary cairn. It is located on unenclosed moorland on the west-facing slopes of Corney Fell north of Kinmont Beck and west of Buckbarrow Beck, and represents evidence for the prehistoric exploitation of this landscape. The monument is sub-divided into five separate areas of protection. Kinmont Beck North West cairnfield is centred at approximately SD12709043 and includes over 100 clearance cairns varying between 2m-10m in diameter and up to 0.6m high. Within this cairnfield is a funerary cairn located at SD12749062. This cairn was subjected to limited excavation in 1972 and soil samples from beneath the mound were analysed and subsequently interpreted as indicating that the cairn had been used for burial. Also within this cairnfield are remains of a field system consisting of a lynchet running between two clearance cairns at the southern end of the cairnfield, lengths of stone banks interpreted as field divisions running down the hillslope, and alignments of clearance cairns considered to represent the line of old field boundaries in which sporadic patches of stone clearance were piled against hedges or fences. Buckbarrow Bridge West cairnfield is centred at approximately SD13119044 and lies either side of the minor road crossing Corney Fell. It includes upwards of 100 clearance cairns up to 0.6m high and varying between 3m in diameter to 11m long by 8m wide. Within the cairnfield the are remains of a rectilinear field system represented by three lynchets, whilst a stone bank and an alignment of clearance cairns on the north side of the cairnfield and a stone bank on the south side of the cairnfield are also considered to have formed part of the field system. At the southern edge of the cairnfield, at SD13069032, there are remains of a hut circle about 4m in diameter. A third cairnfield lies to the north of Buckbarrow Bridge West cairnfield and is centred at approximately SD13039068. It is also crossed by the minor road and includes over 60 clearance cairns up to 0.45m high and varying between 2.2m in diameter to 8.9m long by 4.8m wide. Within this cairnfield are remains of a field system consisting of five lengths of stone walling which mark the northern edge of the cairnfield and an L-shaped length of walling interpreted as part of an enclosure. White Crags South cairnfield is centred at approximately SD13349078 and includes six clearance cairns and a short length of stone bank. At SD13379074, about 40m SSE of a cluster of three of these cairns, there are remains of a prehistoric farmstead consisting of a sub-circular stone-walled enclosure about 25m in diameter externally with an entrance on its south east side and a cairn built into the enclosure wall adjacent to the entrance. Internally there are traces of a hut circle about 5m in diameter. Buckbarrow Beck West cairnfield is centred at approximately SD13539073 and includes about 20 clearance cairns up to 0.5m high and varying between 2.8m in diameter to 14m long by 5m wide. Within this cairnfield there is a small field system consisting of an L-shaped length of stone bank or wall incorporating two cairns which is interpreted as an enclosure. Kinmont Beck North East cairnfield is centred at approximately SD12979022 and includes five clearance cairns. Within the cairnfield is a hut circle about 10m in diameter with an entrance on its western side. Also within the cairnfield are traces of a field system represented by a lynchet some 50m long running along the contour. The prehistoric remains on Corney Fell north of Kinmont Beck and west of Buckbarrow Beck reflect either sporadic or transient occupation over a long period, while the funerary cairn has forms similar to excavated funerary cairns dated to the Bronze Age (about 2000-700BC).

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:: 32834
Legacy System:: RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Quartermaine, J, Corney fell Survey Catalogue, (1984)
Quartermaine, J, Leech, R H, Upland Settlement of the Lake District: Result of Recent Surveys, (1997), 16-19
Quartermaine, J, Corney fell Survey Catalogue, (1984)
Quartermaine, J, Corney fell Survey Catalogue, (1984)
Quartermaine, J, Corney fell Survey Catalogue, (1984)
Quartermaine, J, Leech, R H, Upland Settlement of the Lake District: Result of Recent Surveys, (1997), 16-19
Quartermaine, J, Corney fell Survey Catalogue, (1984)
Quartermaine, J, Corney fell Survey Catalogue, (1984)
Quartermaine, J, Corney fell Survey Catalogue, (1984)
Quartermaine, J, Corney fell Survey Catalogue, (1984)
Quartermaine, J, Corney fell Survey Catalogue, (1984)
Quartermaine, J, Corney fell Survey Catalogue, (1984)
Quartermaine, J, Corney fell Survey Catalogue, (1984)
Quartermaine, J, Corney fell Survey Catalogue, (1984)
Quartermaine, J, Corney fell Survey Catalogue, (1984)
Quartermaine, J, Corney fell Survey Catalogue, (1984)
Quartermaine, J, Corney fell Survey Catalogue, (1984)
Ward, J E, 'Trans Cumb and West Antiq and Arch Soc. New Ser.' in Cairns on Corney Fell, West Cumberland, , Vol. LXXVII, (1977), 2-5

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.