Details

The monument includes the earthworks and buried remains of a prehistoric
cairnfield within which is a hut circle settlement, consisting of the remains
of three stone hut circles, an associated field system, a funerary cairn, and
a medieval shieling. It is located on a prominent low rise on Birkby Fell to
the west of Devoke Water and represents evidence of the Bronze Age and
medieval exploitation of this landscape.
The prehistoric cairnfield is centred at approximately SD15029690 and includes
over 140 circular and oval-shaped clearance cairns up to 0.7m high. The
circular cairns measure between 1m to 7.8m in diameter while the oval-shaped
cairns measure between 4.3m to 13m long by 2.2m to 8m wide. Towards the south
eastern end of the cairnfield, overlooking the western shore of Devoke Water,
are the remains of the three stone hut cirles which collectively form the hut
circle settlement. The southern of the three is built against a stone bank or
wall and has an entrance in its eastern side, the western hut circle has an
entrance in its north eastern side, whilst the entrance to the eastern hut
circle is currently masked by tumble. A field system associated with the
cairnfield and hut circle settlement is centred at approximately SD15039688
and consists of numerous short lengths of stone banking or wall and a number
of cairn alignments which are interpreted as representing the line of old
field boundaries in which sporadic patches of stone clearance were piled
against a fence or hedge. At SD15129689, at the highest point of the monument,
there is a prehistoric funerary cairn measuring 14.7m in diameter and 0.9m
high. The cairn is visible from a considerable distance and is defined by a
stone kerb around its edge, but it has suffered minor disturbance by having a
small modern shelter erected at its centre.
Medieval use of this area is attested by the remains of a shieling centred at
SD15189694. It consists of the lower courses of a single-roomed stone-walled
rectangular structure measuring approximately 12m long by 7m wide with an
entrance at the centre of its western side.
Pollen cores taken from the sediments of nearby Devoke Water have revealed the
changing vegetational history of this area over the last 5000 years and show
episodes of forest clearance and a development of grassland during the
prehistoric period. During one of these episodes most trees were cut down and
were soon replaced by extensive grassland. The clearance is associated with
the Bronze Age on the basis of its similarity to a clearance episode from
Seathwaite Tarn 9km to the east, which has been scientifically dated to around
1000 BC.

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

The Cumbrian uplands comprise large areas of remote mountainous terrain, much
of which is largely open fellside. As a result of archaeological surveys
between 1980 and 1990 within the Lake District National Park, these fells have
become one of the best recorded upland areas in England. On the open fells
there is sufficient well preserved and understood evidence over extensive
areas for human exploitation of these uplands from the Neolithic to the post-
medieval period. On the enclosed land and within forestry the archaeological
remains are fragmentary, but they survive sufficiently well to show that human
activity extended beyond the confines of the open fells. Bronze Age activity
accounts for the most extensive use of the area, and evidence for it includes
some of the largest and best preserved field systems and cairn fields in
England, as well as settlement sites, numerous burial monuments, stone circles
and other ceremonial remains. Taken together, their remains can provide a
detailed insight into life in the later prehistoric period. Of additional
importance is the well-preserved and often visible relationship between the
remains of earlier and later periods, since this provides an understanding of
changes in land use through time. Because of their rarity in a national
context, excellent state of preservation and inter-connections, most
prehistoric monuments on the Lake District fells will be identified as
nationally important.

Shielings were small seasonally occupied huts which were built to provide
shelter for herdsmen who tended animals grazing summer pasture on upland or
marshland. These huts reflect a system called transhumance, whereby stock was
moved in spring from lowland pasture around the permanently occupied farms to
communal upland grazing during the warmer summer months. Settlement patterns
reflecting transhumance are known from the Bronze Age, however, the
construction of herdsmens huts in a form distinctive from the normal dwelling
houses of farms only appears from the early medieval period onwards (about
450 AD). Shielings are reasonably common in the uplands but frequently
represent the only evidence for medieval settlement and farming practices
here. Those examples which survive well and help illustrate medieval land use
in an area are considered to be nationally important.
The prehistoric cairnfield, hut circle settlement, associated field system and
funerary cairn on Birkby Fell west of Devoke Water survive well and form part
of a large area of well-preserved prehistoric landscape extending along the
fellsides of south west Cumbria. The monument contains a complex and diverse
group of prehistoric monument classes and together these represent evidence of
long term management and exploitation of this area in prehistoric times.
Additionally the medieval shieling will contribute to our understanding of
settlement patterns and the economy during the medieval period. Overall the
monument is a good example of a landscape within which evidence of human
exploitation is visible through a range of remarkably well-preserved monuments
dating to the prehistoric and medieval periods.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Leech, R, Birkby Fell Survey Catalogue, (1982)
Leech, R, Birkby Fell Survey Catalogue, (1982)
Leech, R, Birkby Fell Survey Catalogue, (1982)
Leech, R, Birkby Fell Survey Catalogue, (1982)
Leech, R, Birkby Fell Survey Catalogue, (1982)
Leech, R, Birkby Fell Survey Catalogue, (1982)
Quartermaine, J, Leech, R H, Upland Settlement of the Lake District: Result of Recent Surveys, (1997), 60-73
Quartermaine, J, Leech, R H, Upland Settlement of the Lake District: Result of Recent Surveys, (1997), 60-73
Quartermaine, J, Leech, R H, Upland Settlement of the Lake District: Result of Recent Surveys, (1997), 60-73
Quartermaine, J, Leech, R H, Upland Settlement of the Lake District: Result of Recent Surveys, (1997), 60-73
Leech, R, 'Trans Cumb and West Antiq and Arch Soc. New Ser.' in Settlement And Groups Of Small Cairns On Birkby And Birker Fells, , Vol. LXXXIII, (1983), 15-23
Leech, R, 'Trans Cumb and West Antiq and Arch Soc. New Ser.' in Settlement And Groups Of Small Cairns On Birkby And Birker Fells, , Vol. LXXXIII, (1983), 15-23
Leech, R, 'Trans Cumb and West Antiq and Arch Soc. New Ser.' in Settlement And Groups Of Small Cairns On Birkby And Birker Fells, , Vol. LXXXIII, (1983), 15-23

Source: Historic England