Scheduled Monument: TWO ROUND CAIRNS 750M SOUTH WEST OF OFFERTON HOUSE (1016628)

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION 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. Round cairns are prehistoric funerary monuments dating to the Bronze Age (c.2,000-700 BC). They were constructed as stone mounds covering single or multiple burials. These burials may be placed within the mound in stone-lined compartment called cists. They are a relatively common feature of the uplands and are the stone equivalents 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 prehistoric communities. They are particularly representative of their period and a substantial proportion of surviving examples are considered worthy of protection. The two cairns 750m south west of Offerton House are important as well preserved examples and as such are likely to contain undisturbed buried remains. DETAILS The monument includes two prehistoric round cairns situated on gently shelving open moorland. The larger of the two cairns is flat topped and is approximately 8m in diameter and about 0.6m high. There is a slight depression at its centre which is likely to be the result of subsidence. The second cairn, which stands 12m to the east, measures approximately 5m by 6m. The cairns stand in stone cleared ground, indicating that they may have been clearance cairns. However, the size of the larger cairn and the cairns relative isolation suggest that they had a funerary as well as a clearance function. SELECTED SOURES Article Reference - Author: Barnatt, J. W. - Title: Bronze Age Remains on the East Moors of Derbyshire - Date: 1986 - Journal Title: Derbyshire Archaeological Journal - Volume: 106 - Page References: 66-68 - Type: PLAN: SKETCH