Scheduled Monument: CAIRNFIELD 860M NORTH EAST OF RAMSLEY LODGE (1017116)

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. Cairnfields are concentrations of cairns sited in close proximity to one another. They often consist largely of clearance cairns, built with stone cleared from the surrounding land surface to improve its use for agriculture and on occasions their distribution pattern can be seen to define field plots. Occasionally, some of the cairns were used for funerary purposes although without excavation it is difficult to determine which cairns contain burials. Clearance cairns were constructed from the Neolithic period (from c.3400 BC) although the majority date from the Bronze Age (2000-700 BC). Cairnfields can also retain information concerning the development of land use and agricultural practices as well as the diversity of beliefs and social organisation during the prehistoric period. The cairnfield 860m north east of Ramsley Lodge contains well preserved examples of undisturbed cairns which appear to be part of a small area of prehistoric clearance for agricultural purposes. As such, it is important to our understanding of prehistoric agriculture and settlement on the gritstone moors of the Peak District. DETAILS The monument includes a group of at least eight cairns forming a compact cairnfield, interpreted as evidence for prehistoric land clearance for settlement and agriculture. The cairnfield is located on shelving land, overlooking Hewetts Brook to the east. A short distance to the north west is a ring cairn and there are more extensive Bronze Age settlement remains further to the south west. These features are the subject of separate schedulings. The cairns range from 2m to 4.5m in diameter, and there is a trace of a probable linear clearance between two of the cairns, indicating that the area may once have contained small field plots. The cairns small size, and their position standing in a stone cleared area indicate that they were clearance measures rather than funerary structures. SELECTED SOURCES 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: 48-9 - Type: DESC TEXT 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: 48-9 - Type: PLAN: SKETCH