Details

The monument includes a partly mutilated prehistoric round cairn located on
the summit of a local high point on Thornley Hall Fell, 430m east of Meg Hall.
It consists of a circular mound of earth and stones 36m in diameter and up to
0.5m high. The northern part of the cairn has been disturbed and a small pile
of loose stones have been dumped upon the cairn's summit.

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 disturbance to the northern part of the monument, the round cairn
on Thornley Hall Fell, 430m east of Meg Hall survives reasonably well and will
contain undisturbed archaeological deposits within the mound and upon the old
landsurface beneath.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
SMR No. 165, Lancs SMR, Thornley Hall Fell, (1985)
SMR No. 1839, Lancs SMR, Thornley Hall Fell, (1985)

Source: Historic England