Details

The monument includes a round cairn located on gently sloping land close to
the south east corner of Mollen Wood, 640m east of Parkgate Bridge. It
includes a circular mound of turf-covered stones measuring 9m in diameter and
up to 1m high on the downslope south and east sides and 0.2m high elsewhere.

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 minor damage to the mound by tree root growth, the round cairn in
Mollen Wood survives reasonably well and will contain undisturbed
archaeological deposits within the mound and upon the old landsurface beneath.
The cairn lies close to other prehistoric monuments around Bewcastle, thus
indicating the importance of this area in prehistoric times and the diversity
of monument classes to be found here.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
Darvill,T., MPP Single Monument Class Description - Bowl Barrows, (1988)
SMR No. 77, Cumbria SMR, Cairn in Mollen Wood, (1983)

Source: Historic England