![Granish Ring -Cairn, (Loch na Carraigean) - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/Granish_Ring_-Cairn%2C_%28Loch_na_Carraigean%29_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1492871.jpg)
A ring cairn (also correctly termed a ring bank enclosure, but sometimes wrongly described as a ring barrow) is a circular or slightly oval, ring-shaped, low (maximum 0.5 metres high) embankment, several metres wide and from 8 to 20 metres in diameter. It is made of stone and earth and was originally empty in the centre. In several cases the middle of the ring was later used (at
Hound Tor
Hound Tor is a tor on Dartmoor, Devon, England and is a good example of a heavily weathered granite outcrop. It is easily accessible, situated within a few minutes from the B3387 between Bovey Tracey and Widecombe-in-the-Moor.
The site is admin ...
, for example, there is a
stone cist
A cist ( or ; also kist ;
from grc-gre, κίστη, Middle Welsh ''Kist'' or Germanic ''Kiste'') is a small stone-built coffin-like box or ossuary used to hold the bodies of the dead. Examples can be found across Europe and in the Middle East ...
in the centre). The low profile of these cairns is not always possible to make out without conducting excavations.
Distribution
These sites date to the
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
and occur in
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
,
Derbyshire
Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...
(
Barbrook IV and V and Green Low) in England; and in Scotland, Wales and Ireland.
Description
![Ring Cairn near Mains of Moyness - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Ring_Cairn_near_Mains_of_Moyness_-_geograph.org.uk_-_257472.jpg)
The
cairn
A cairn is a man-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the gd, cà rn (plural ).
Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehis ...
s look like flat variants of the significantly higher
Clava cairn
The Clava cairn is a type of Bronze Age circular chamber tomb cairn, named after the group of three cairns at Balnuaran of Clava, to the east of Inverness in Scotland. There are about 50 cairns of this type in an area round about Inverness. They ...
s, which are often called ring cairns by laymen. The situation is rather different on the gritstones of the Eastern Uplands. Here it is more common to find smaller stone circles and ring cairns. The patterned relationship of these smaller monuments to cairnfield systems throughout the Eastern Moors suggests that they were built and used by specific communities, probably in the centuries around 2000 BC. Although details vary from one site to another, nearly all comprise a ring of small upright stones set on the inner edge of a roughly circular bank.
Function
Ring cairns may have had a function that lay somewhere between that of the much older
henge
There are three related types of Neolithic earthwork that are all sometimes loosely called henges. The essential characteristic of all three is that they feature a ring-shaped bank and ditch, with the ditch inside the bank. Because the internal ...
s and the contemporary
stone circle
A stone circle is a ring of standing stones. Most are found in Northwestern Europe – especially in Britain, Ireland, and Brittany – and typically date from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with most being built from 3000 BC. The be ...
s. In northeast Scotland the
recumbent stone circle
A recumbent stone circle is a type of stone circle that incorporates a large monolith, known as a ''recumbent'', lying on its side. They are found in only two regions: in Aberdeenshire in the north-east of Scotland and in the far south-west of Irel ...
s seem to have encircled a cairn and typically it was a ring cairn, as distinct from a Clava cairn. In some instances, in particular at
Tomnaverie stone circle
Tomnaverie stone circle is a recumbent stone circle set on the top of a small hill in lowland northeast Scotland. Construction started from about 2500 BC, in the Bronze Age, to produce a monument of thirteen granite stones including a massive 6. ...
, the cairn was built before the circle according to an overall design. Usually all superficial trace of the cairns has disappeared over the millennia.
[{{cite book , last1=Bradley , first1=Richard , author1-link=Richard Bradley (archaeologist), last2=Phillips , first2=Tim , last3=Arrowsmith , first3=Sharon , last4=Ball , first4=Chris , title=The Moon and the Bonfire: an investigation of three stone circles in north-east Scotland , date=2005 , publisher=]Society of Antiquaries of Scotland
The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland is the senior antiquarian body of Scotland, with its headquarters in the National Museum of Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh. The Society's aim is to promote the cultural heritage of Scotland.
The usua ...
, isbn=0903903334 , url=https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/library/browse/issue.xhtml?recordId=1147153&recordType=MonographSeriesChapter, ref={{sfnref, Bradley, 2005 â€
available online
/ref> The fact that in southeast Wales there are so few stone circles could be related to the fact that ring cairns were built there instead.
Although graves have been found in some ring cairns, this does not appear to be their original purpose. In the central area, graves and pits with cremation ashes, fireplaces and sometimes, small, low cairns are found.
The slightly oval ring cairns near Arthur's Stone on the Gower Peninsula
Gower ( cy, Gŵyr) or the Gower Peninsula () in southwest Wales, projects towards the Bristol Channel. It is the most westerly part of the historic county of Glamorgan. In 1956, the majority of Gower became the first area in the United Kingdom ...
show that the inner edges of ring cairns were especially carefully constructed and were set in front of a small grave. Originally there was a passage through the ring here, about ten metres across, that was blocked when the cairn ceased to be used.
See also
* Tor cairn
A tor cairn is a prehistoric cult site occurring in the British Isles, especially in Cornwall and Devon but also in Wales. It consists of a circular enclosure of stones or a platform of loose rocks surrounding a natural tor, sometimes encircled ...
References
Literature
* F. Lynch: ''Ring cairns and related monuments in Wales.'' In: ''Scottish Archaeological Forum.'' 4, 1972 S. 61–80
* F. Lynch: ''Ring cairns in Britain and Ireland: their design and purpose.'' In: ''Ulster Journal of Archaeology.'' 42, 1979 S. 1–19
External links
„Carnau Cefn-y-Ffordd“, Ring cairns - brief text and photos
Aerial photo of Hound Tor round cairn
Bronze Age