Details

The monument includes a round cairn which is situated on Middle Jurassic
sandstone at the eastern edge of the North York Moors, on a gentle
south-facing slope.
The cairn has a stone mound which stands 0.3m high and measures up to 8m in
diameter. In the centre of the mound there is a modern disturbance which has
left a small hollow. Stones from the excavation of the hollow have been piled
together with others from the surrounding area to form a heap 0.6m high next
to the hollow.
The barrow lies in an area where there are many other prehistoric monuments,
including further barrows as well as 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 by forestry ploughing, the round cairn on Pye Rigg, 600m
SSE of Pye Rigg Howe has surviving archaeological deposits which will preserve
information about the original form of the cairn and the burials placed within
it. Evidence for earlier land use and the contemporary environment will also
survive beneath the cairn.
The cairn is the only one of a group of nine distributed along Pye Rigg to
survive forestry ploughing. It is situated within an area which includes other
burial monuments as well as field systems 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

Other
Title: Forestry Commission Areas North York Moors Archaeological Survey
Source Date: 1992
Author:
Publisher:
Surveyor:
Site 5.2

Source: Historic England