Ribblehead clearance cairns
Historical Environment Record No:
MYD36611
Parish:
Ingleton
OS Grid Reference:
Dale:
Description
Ribblehead clearance cairns MYD36611 (c) YDNPA, 2023
Cairn fields were created during the Neolithic and Bronze Ages when land was being taken into cultivation for the first time. The naturally stony soils of the Dales uplands had to be laboriously dug over by hand and the larger stones removed before crops could be grown. The stones were collected up and piled into cairns dotted about the fields. At Ribblehead, a cairnfield of 19 cairns can be seen. They vary in height from 0.3 to 1 metre but the majority appear to have had large stones or sections removed. Diameters vary from 4 to 8 metres, the majority are grass covered.