Scheduled Monument: ROUND CAIRN 890M SSW OF HOB HURST'S HOUSE (1017000)

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 round cairn 890m SSW of Hob Hurst's House, although robbed of some stone, still contains significant undisturbed archaeological remains. Its proximity to several cairnfields and field systems is important to our understanding of Bronze Age funerary monuments and their relationship with contemporary settlement. DETAILS The monument includes the remains of a large round cairn which stands on a bluff of moorland close to another cairn of similar size, which is the subject of a separate scheduling. Both cairns are interpreted as funerary monuments. The cairn 890m SSW of Hob Hurst's House was constructed from surface worn gritstones and measures approximately 20m in diameter and 0.7m high. The centre of the cairn has been robbed of stone either as the result of an undocumented excavation or for wall building. The undisturbed rim of the cairn remains intact for much of its circumference, although there are breaks in the north and east sides: some of the interior material also survives. The size, position, and relative isolation of the cairn indicates that it was not the product of stone clearance for agriculture but was built as a funerary onument. To the west, east and north are several prehistoric cairnfields and field systems and it is likely that the cairn served as an ancestral burial place during the earlier phases of settlement on the moors, during the Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age period. SELECTED SOURCES Unpublished Title Reference - Author: Barnatt, J W - Title: Peak District Barrow Survey - Date: 1989 - Page References: 29:31 - Description: unpublished survey Book Reference - Author: Barnatt, JW - Title: The Chatsworth Estate Historic Landscape Survey (Moorlands) - Date: 1998 - Page References: 132 Book Reference - Author: Barnatt, JW - Title: The Chatsworth Estate Historic Landscape Survey (Moorlands) - Date: 1998 - Page References: 132