Details

The monument includes the remains of a tor cairn situated on the summit of
Stiperstones, a narrow north to south orientated ridge of high ground. The
cairn comprises a ring bank of angular stone rubble construction averaging
1.2m wide and 0.4m high, surrounding a natural stone outcrop with dimensions
of 6.6m north to south by 5m east to west and standing 1.2m high. The ring
bank is slightly flattened in the south-west quarter, where it lies against
the edge of the boulder, before swinging out and away from the outcrop, around
the remaining sides, to form a roughly ovoid enclosure 10.3m north to south by
8.5m east to west. There is no visible trace of an entrance. Although no
longer visible as a surface feature, a ditch, from which material was quarried
during the construction of the ring bank, may survive as a buried feature with
an approximate width of 1.5m.

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

Tor cairns are ceremonial monuments dating to the Early and Middle Bronze Age
(c.2000-1000 BC). They comprise a circular bank of stone rubble, up to 35m in
external diameter, sometimes with an entrance and an external ditch,
constructed around a natural rock outcrop or tor. Excavated examples have
revealed post-holes and pits within the area defined by the ring-bank, some
containing burial evidence, and scatters of Bronze Age artefacts. Tor cairns
usually occur as single monuments often in association with other types of
burial cairn of similar age. They are nationally rare monuments which occur
only in areas of high moorland where there are suitable outcrops of rock.
The tor cairn on the Stiperstones, hitherto recorded as a round cairn,
exhibits the diagnostic characteristics of the class and must be considered as
a well preserved example of this rare group of monuments. It survives largely
undisturbed and will retain archaeological deposits in the interior between
the outcrop and the ring-bank. It will also preserve environmental evidence
relating to the landscape in which it was constructed. It is one of several
burial cairns of similar age which occur grouped around the Stiperstone
outcrops and, as such, contributes important information relating to the
density of settlement, social structure and land use of this area of upland
during the Bronze Age period.

Source: Historic England