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.
Details
The monument includes a prehistoric cairnfield and two associated hut circles
located on the west facing slopes of Corney Fell, 860m north of Buckbarrow
Bridge. It represents evidence for the prehistoric exploitation of this
landscape and includes a short length of stone bank and about 40 round and
oval shaped clearance cairns up to 0.6m high, the round cairns measuring
between 1.5m to 6.2m in diameter, the oval shaped cairns measuring between
2.8m to 6.7m long by 2m to 5.1m wide. The majority of the cairns occupy a
small natural terrace on the hillside overlooking the remainder of the cairns
within this cairnfield. On the northern edge of this terrace, at SD13369127,
there is a hut circle measuring approximately 11m by 7m with a small three
sided enclosure attached to its northern side. On the hillslope immediately
below the terrace lie the remainder of the cairns, including an alignment of
five interpreted as representing the line of an old boundary in which sporadic
patches of stone were piled against a fence or hedge. At SD13259114, at the
southern edge of this group of cairns, there are the ill defined remains of a
hut circle situated against a prominent curved stone bank which, with faint
traces of other banks, may have originally formed a small enclosure.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
Legacy System number:
32841
Legacy System:
RSM
Sources
Books and journals
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.
End of official list entry
