Details

The monument is a round cairn located on Askham Fell. It includes a partly
mutilated circular mound of largely turf-covered stones 6m in diameter and up
to 0.8m high. The cairn has been hollowed out at its centre to create a
shooting butt and the internal face of this disturbance has been partially
stone revetted. There is stone up to 0.3m high on the south eastern edge of
the cairn.

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.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

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 partial mutilation of this monument to create a shooting butt, the
round cairn 270m north of The Cop Stone survives reasonably well. It lies
within an area of open fell rich in prehistoric monuments and will contain
undisturbed archaeological deposits within the remains of the mound and upon
the old landsurface beneath.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Quartermaine, J, Askham Fell Survey Catalogue, (1992)
Other
Darvill, T, MPP Single Monument Class Descriptions - Bowl Barrows (1988), (1988)
RCHME, Westmorland, (1936)
SMR No. 2954, Cumbria SMR, Moor Divock, (1985)
To Robinson,K.D. MPPFW, Quartermaine,J. (Site surveyor), (1992)

Source: Historic England