Details

The monument includes a round cairn situated in a prominent position on a
moorland ridge on the edge of the North York Moors. The cairn has a stone
mound 7m in diameter and standing up to 0.7m high. In the centre of the mound
there is a slight hollow caused by past excavations. The cairn was originally
surrounded by a kerb of stones which defined the cairn and supported the
mound. However, over the years many of these stones have been taken away or
buried by peat accumulating around the edges of the mound, although three are
still visible on the south east edge and one or two on the west. On the north
west side of the mound there is a boundary stone bearing the legend TL1929 on
its south east face and TKS1815 on its north east face. The stone is Listed
Grade II. Around the base of the boundary stone there is a modern walkers'
cairn. A public bridleway passes to the immediate north west of the cairn and
two other public footpaths join at this point.
The cairn is one in a group of seven spread along the ridge and lies in an
area rich in prehistoric monuments, including further burial monuments, field
systems and clearance cairns.

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 disturbance the cairn on Newton Moor 900m north east of Summer Hill
Farm retains significant information about its original form and the burials
placed within it. Evidence for earlier land use will also survive beneath the
stone mound.
The cairn is one of a group of seven burial monuments and such clusters
provide important insight into the development of ritual and funerary practice
during the Bronze Age. It is also situated within an area which includes other
groups of burial monuments as well as field systems, enclosures and clearance
cairns. Associated groups of monuments such as these offer important scope for
the study of the distribution of prehistoric activity across the landscape.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Crawford, G M, Bronze Age Burial Mounds in Cleveland, (1980)
Spratt, D A , 'Prehistoric and Roman Archaeology in North East Yorkshire' in Prehistoric and Roman Archaeology of North East Yorkshire, , Vol. 87, (1993)

Source: Historic England