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Three cairns on Ravock, Bowes Moor, 830m north east of Ravock Castle

A Scheduled Monument in Bowes, County Durham

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Coordinates

Latitude: 54.5252 / 54°31'30"N

Longitude: -2.0654 / 2°3'55"W

OS Eastings: 395863.050413

OS Northings: 514431.846427

OS Grid: NY958144

Mapcode National: GBR GJ03.MM

Mapcode Global: WHB4J.7JQ9

Entry Name: Three cairns on Ravock, Bowes Moor, 830m north east of Ravock Castle

Scheduled Date: 16 April 1999

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1016606

English Heritage Legacy ID: 31816

County: County Durham

Civil Parish: Bowes

Traditional County: Yorkshire

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): County Durham

Details

The monument includes three cairns near the north east edge of the upland
plateau of Ravock, 830m north east of Ravock Castle. The cairns are 100m south
of the southern edge of a cairnfield, the subject of a separate scheduling.
The westernmost cairn of the three is 5m in diameter and 0.5m high.
The central cairn is the largest of the group, with a diameter of 8m and
height of 0.5m. The easternmost cairn is 5.5m in diameter and 1m high.
All three cairns are composed of sandstone rubble and boulders. Although all
the cairns show evidence of stone having been removed in the past for walling,
the easternmost is much less affected by this than the other two.

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

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 may be placed within the mound in stone-lined
compartments called cists. In some cases the cairn was surrounded by a ditch.
Often occupying prominent locations, cairns are a major visual element in the
modern landscape. They are a relatively common feature of the uplands and are
the stone equivalent 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 early prehistoric communities. They are particularly representative of
their period and a substantial proportion of surviving examples are considered
worthy of protection.

Despite some stone removal, the three cairns on Ravock, Bowes Moor, 830m north
east of Ravock Castle survive reasonably well and will retain significant
information on prehistoric land use on the moor. They are also part of a wider
prehistoric landscape in the area which includes further cairns and field
systems.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
Ravock, Cleveland County Archaeology Section, A66 Archaeology Project, (1990)

Source: Historic England

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