Details

The monument includes seven carved gritstone rocks and a four small cairns.
They are situated at Skyreholme, and are on slightly sloping ground, south of
Eller Edge Nook. The cairns range from 2.5m to 6m in diameter. Most have been
robbed for walling stone in the past. Several incorporate large boulders,
including some of the carved rocks, with smaller stones piled around them.
The carved rocks are gritstone boulders, several of which are large. They have
simple designs consisting mainly of cup marks. Two rocks also have grooves.

MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.

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.

Prehistoric rock carving is found on natural boulders and rock outcrops in
many areas of upland Britain. It is especially common in the north of England
in Northumberland, Durham, and North and West Yorkshire. The most common form
of decoration is the `cup' marking, where small cup-like hollows are worked
into the surface of the rock. These cups may be surrounded by one or more
`rings'. Single pecked lines extending from the cup through the rings may also
exist, providing the design with a `tail'. Other shapes and patterns also
occur but are less frequent. Carvings may occur singly, in small groups, or
may cover extensive areas of rock surface. They date to the Late Neolithic and
Bronze Age periods (2800-c.500 BC) and provide one our most important insights
into prehistoric `art'. The exact meaning of the designs remains unknown, but
they may be interpreted as sacred or religious symbols. All positively
identified prehistoric rock carvings sites will normally be identified as
nationally important.
These carved rocks and cairns form part of a wider group of carved rocks and
other archaeological features on the uplands east of Skyreholme. The carvings
on the rocks survive well and form an important part of the prehistoric
landscape of the Skyreholme area. The cairns are disturbed, but all retain
evidence of their form and location. They also form an important part of the
archaeological context of the carved rocks.

Source: Historic England