Scheduled Monument: CARIN 1500M NORTH WEST OF NEWBRIDGE FARM (1019513)

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.2000-700 BC). They were constructed as stone mounds covering single or multiple burials. These burials were placed within the mound in stone-lined compartments called cists. Often occupying prominent locations, cairns are a major visual element in the modern landscape. 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. The cairn 1500m north west of Newbridge Farm is important in its association with contemporary settlement remains close-by. It is also of complex form and remains largely intact, thus retaining archaeological information relating to the cairn and the landscape in which it was constructed. DETAILS The monument includes a prehistoric funerary cairn standing to the west of a complex of contemporary settlement remains. The cairn comprises a low mound of surface-worn gritstones standing in open moorland on the crest of a minor escarpment. From this position there are extensive views over contemporary settlement and ceremonial features in the surrounding area. The cairn measures 9m by 8m and stands approximately 0.3m high. Extending from the cairn to the north is a low platform of stones. Large kerb stones are present in the outer rim of cairn. There is a minor disturbance at its centre although the majority of the monument is intact with most of its structure surviving well. Undisturbed archaeological information will survive in the cairn and in the ground below it. The size and location of the cairn indicates that it is funerary in function and Early Bronze Age in date. The cairn represents a ceremonial site being part of a complex and extensive series of contemporary features on the same area of moorlands. SELECTED SOURCES Book Reference - Author: RCHME - Title: The House Within - Date: 1994 - Type: Book Reference - Author: RCHME - Title: The House Within - Date: 1994 - Type: Unpublished Title Reference - Author: Barnatt, J W - Title: Peak District Barrow Survey - Date: 1989 - Page References: 29:14 - Description: unpublished survey Unpublished Title Reference - Author: Barnatt, J W - Title: Peak District Barrow Survey - Date: 1989 - Page References: 29:14 - Description: unpublished survey Article Reference - Author: Barnatt, J. W. - Title: Bronze Age Remains on the East Moors of the Peak District - Date: 1986 - Journal Title: Derbyshire Archaeological Journal - Volume: 106 - Page References: 49-51 - Type: DESC TEXT