Details

The monument includes a ring cairn visible as a low circular earthen
embankment. It is situated on level moorland close to the edge of a west
facing escarpment known as Bamford Edge and overlooks the upper Derwent
Valley. It is Bronze Age in date and there is evidence for Bronze Age
settlement and agriculture nearby.
The ring cairn measures 24.5m by 22.5m internally and appears as a low earthen
ring which has an average height of approximately 0.25m. The circular
embankment is between 2.5m and 3m wide, making an external diameter of
approximately 29m. There are no signs of stones in its construction, nor is
there evidence for a stone kerb as is often found in ring cairns in the Peak
District and elsewhere. The interior of the ring cairn is flat and level and
the area surrounding the monument is noticeably stone-free.

MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
It includes a 3 metre boundary around the archaeological features,
considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

The East Moors in Derbyshire includes all the gritstone moors east of the
River Derwent. It covers an area of 105 sq km, of which around 63% is open
moorland and 37% is enclosed. As a result of recent and on-going
archaeological survey, the East Moors area is becoming one of the best
recorded upland areas in England. On the enclosed land the archaeological
remains are fragmentary, but survive sufficiently well to show that early
human activity extended beyond the confines of the open moors.
On the open moors there is significant and well-articulated evidence over
extensive areas for human exploitation of the gritstone uplands from the
Neolithic to the post-medieval periods. Bronze Age activity accounts for the
most intensive use of the moorlands. Evidence for it includes some of the
largest and best preserved field systems and cairnfields in northern England
as well settlement sites, numerous burial monuments, stone circles and other
ceremonial remains which, together, provide a detailed insight into life in
the Bronze Age. Also of importance is the well preserved and often visible
relationship between the remains of earlier and later periods since this
provides an insight into successive changes in land use through time.
A large number of the prehistoric sites on the moors, because of their rarity
in a national context, excellent state of preservation and inter-connections,
will be identified as nationally important.

Ring banks and ring cairns are prehistoric ritual monuments occasionally
containing upright boulders in their embankments. Most are found in the
upland areas of Britain and sometimes occur in pairs or small groups of up to
four examples. They are dated to the Early and Middle Bronze Age. Their
ritual function is not fully understood, but excavations have revealed that
many ring cairns contain pits in which burials, charcoal and pottery are
placed, and this is taken to indicate ritual feasting activities associated
with the burial of the dead. As a relatively rare class of monument, all
positively identified examples are considered worthy of preservation.
The ring cairn on Bamford Moor appears to have remained intact and to retain a
complete range of buried archaeological features.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Barnatt, J, 'Sheffield Arch. Monograph 1' in The Henges, Stone Circles and Ringcairns of the Peak District, (1990), 47-8

Source: Historic England