Details

The monument includes a round cairn located on a hilltop west of
Hollingworthhall Moor. It includes a slightly oval flat-topped mound of stones
up to 0.8m high with maximum dimensions of approximately 19m by 18m. The top
and the southern edge of the cairn have been partly mutilated by the erection
of an Ordnance Survey column and a drystone wall, the wall having since been
largely removed. The Ordnance Survey column is included in the scheduling
while the remains of a drystone wall on the cairn's western side are excluded
from the scheduling but the ground beneath is included.

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 some minor mutilation of the monument's top and southern side by the
erection of an Ornance Survey column and a drystone wall, the round cairn west
of Hollingworthhall Moor survives reasonably well. It is a rare survival in
Greater Manchester of an unexcavated example of this class of monument and
will contain undisturbed archaeological deposits within the mound and upon the
old landsurface beneath.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Nevell, M, A History & Archaeology of Tameside, (1992), 40-1
Other
Darvill, T., MPP Single Monument Class Description - Bowl Barrows, (1988)
Ref. No. Stalybridge Cairn 21:1, Barnett, J, The Peak District Barrow Survey, (1988)
SMR No. 755/1/1, Gt Manchester SMR, Cairn 2 at Stalybridge, (1992)

Source: Historic England