Details

The monument includes the remains of a cairn and an adjacent section of wall
and ditch forming an ancient parish boundary situated on the north east facing
slope of Titterstone Clee Hill. The cairn remains visible as a turf covered,
stony mound, semi-circular in plan with the straight edge of the mound 7m long
and lying along the edge of the ditch and wall which forms the parish
boundary. It measures 5m across its truncated north west to south east axis
and stands 0.5m high. The surrounding ditch, from which material would have
been quarried for the construction of the mound, is no longer visible though
one will survive around the cairn as a buried feature (beneath and beyond the
wall and ditch to the south east as well as to the west and north) with an
estimated width of 1m. The section of the ancient wall and ditch which cuts
the mound is included to protect its stratigraphic relationship to the cairn.
The wall stands 0.8m high and is 0.5m wide and the ditch is 1m deep and 1.5m
wide.

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 the partial removal of its south east quarter the cairn 450m WNW of
Blue Stone Farm remains a good example of its class. It will contain valuable
archaeological information within the cairn relating to its structure and the
use. Environmental evidence relating to the landscape in which it was
constructed will be preserved sealed on the old land surface beneath the
mound. It is one of several such monuments which occur on Titterstone Clee
Hill and, as such, contributes information relating to the intensity of
settlement, nature of land use, burial practices and social structure of the
prehistoric community occupying this area of upland during the Bronze Age. The
significance of the cairn is enhanced by its position and status as a named
mereing point (boundary marker) on the parish boundary. The parish boundary
wall and ditch itself is of interest at this point as a major structure
deliberately superimposed on the cairn to use the cairn as a boundary mereing
mark.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
RCHM archive text,
RCHM archive text.,

Source: Historic England