Roman BritainRound cairn 30m east of Wicker Street Roman Road
Roman Site · Civilian

Round cairn 30m east of Wicker Street Roman Road

Roman Britain
Pleiades ID: nhle-9682
Site type
Site
Category
Civilian
Latitude
54.4994
Longitude
-2.6128
Overview

History & context

The "round cairn 30m east of Wicker Street Roman Road" is a small upland monument lying close to the line of the Roman road known locally as Wicker Street (a section of the route linking the forts of the central Lake District/Pennine fringe). Despite its proximity to a Roman feature, the cairn itself is almost certainly prehistoric — most likely a Bronze Age burial or clearance cairn — that survived as a landscape marker into and beyond the Roman period.

Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →

Significance

Historical significance

Its only Roman-period significance is locational: such pre-existing cairns often sat alongside Roman roads because the surveyors used visible upland features as sighting points, and the cairn may have served as a wayside landmark for travellers on this transpennine route. It has no demonstrated military, religious or administrative function in itself.

Archaeology

Archaeological record

No excavation is recorded for this specific cairn; it is known essentially from field survey and HER/Pleiades plotting of monuments along the Wicker Street alignment. Comparable cairns in the Howgills, Orton Fells and Lune valley uplands typically consist of a low stony mound 5–10 m across, occasionally covering a cist or cremation, but nothing of the kind has been confirmed here.

About this site

Questions & answers

What is Round cairn 30m east of Wicker Street Roman Road?

The "round cairn 30m east of Wicker Street Roman Road" is a small upland monument lying close to the line of the Roman road known locally as Wicker Street (a section of the route linking the forts of the central Lake District/Pennine fringe). It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a site site from the Roman period in Britain.

What type of Roman site is Round cairn 30m east of Wicker Street Roman Road?

Round cairn 30m east of Wicker Street Roman Road is classified as a Roman site — a civilian site in the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer. Roman Britain's archaeology encompasses thousands of sites ranging from legionary fortresses and marching camps to villas, temples and towns.

What other Roman sites are near Round cairn 30m east of Wicker Street Roman Road?

Several Roman sites lie within a short distance, including Ewe Locks Romano-British settlement, Romano-British farmstead and two medieval shielings (1.2 km), Cow Green Romano-British settlement and medieval shieling (1.3 km), Ewe Close Romano-British enclosed and unenclosed stone hut circle settlements and associated field system, medieval farmstead and Wicker Street Roman road (1.8 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.

How can I research the history of the area around Round cairn 30m east of Wicker Street Roman Road?

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