Hare Gill prehistoric cairnfield, hut circle settlement and associated field system 715m SSE of Fisher Gate

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.

Despite bracken infestation, Hare Gill prehistoric cairnfield, hut circle settlement and associated field system 715m SSE of Fisher Gate survives reasonably well and forms part of a large area of well-preserved prehistoric landscape extending along the fellsides of south west Cumbria. In conjunction with a wide range of other prehistoric remains in the vicinity the monument represents evidence of long term management and exploitation of this area in prehistoric times.

Details

The monument includes the earthworks and buried remains of Hare Gill prehistoric cairnfield, hut circle settlement and an associated field system located above Hare Gill on the east-facing slopes of Garner Bank, 715m SSE of Fisher Gate. It represents Bronze Age exploitation of this landscape and includes over 30 circular and oval-shaped clearance cairns, measuring up to 1.3m high, centred at SD16029850. The circular cairns measure between 1.2m to 4.8m in diameter while the oval-shaped cairns measure between 3m to 8m long by 1.5m to 4.6m wide. Associated with the cairnfield is a field system consisting of two stone banks or walls, each with an entrance, which form the northern and south western boundaries of the cairnfield and field system. A line of six stones also marks the south west limit of the field system. Elsewhere, at approximately SD16109847, there is a curvilinear stone wall or bank with an entrance on its south side which may originally have formed part of an enclosure. Another feature of the field system, and one considered to be an indicator of past arable cultivation, is a lynchet which runs north west- south east through a cairn-free area in the northern half of the monument. Abutting the south east side of the curvilinear enclosure wall, at SD16099845, is a hut circle settlement. It consists of a rectangular stone-walled enclosure sub-divided into two smaller rectangular enclosures by a cross wall, with each enclosure having an entrance on the south east side. The uphill enclosure is the more level and appears to contain the remains of a hut circle, while the adjoining lower enclosure appears sunken and is interpreted as a small stock pen.

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:

32883

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Quartermaine, J, Leech, R H, Upland Settlement of the Lake District: Result of Recent Surveys, (1997), 60-73
Leech, R, Birkby Fell Survey Catalogue, (1982)
Leech, R, Birkby Fell Survey Catalogue, (1982)
Leech, R, Birkby Fell Survey Catalogue, (1982)

End of official list entry

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