Howdale Moor Cairnfield and Field System

The Howdale Moor complex occupies a north-facing slope south-east of Howdale Farm. Up to six small stone cairns survive with low earth-and-stone banks marking parts of a field system. The cairns are interpreted primarily as the results of Bronze Age stone clearance for farming, although comparable monuments elsewhere sometimes also contain burials. No burial should therefore be assumed beneath every mound here. A cairn incorporated into one bank demonstrates that clearance and land division formed an integrated arrangement. Nearby, an earthfast rock bears twelve cup marks, additional worn hollows and a carved groove. The relationship between the carving and agricultural remains is uncertain; the rock art may represent earlier activity. Together, the earthworks and carved stone show several ways in which prehistoric communities used this moorland, whose modern appearance obscures evidence of former cultivation. Period: Bronze Age clearance cairns; rock-art chronology uncertain Grid reference: NZ 95743 01144 Protection: Scheduled monument Source: Historic England, https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1019683 (Open Government Licence). © Historic England 2026. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.