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 9m in diameter and standing up to 0.8m high. It 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 a few
are still visible on the south and south east edges. In the centre of the
mound there is a hollow, caused by past excavations, which is now filled by a
walkers' cairn. Within the walkers' cairn there is a boundary stone, bearing
the legend TKS1815 on its west face, which is Listed Grade II. The east edge
of the mound is clipped by an unsurfaced vehicle track which runs north west-
south east.
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 limited disturbance, the cairn on Newton Moor, 870m south east of
Hanging Stone has survived well. Significant information about the original
form of the cairn and the burials placed within it will be preserved. 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