Reasons for Designation
A cairn field is a concentration of stony mounds or cairns which may be a result of field clearance or often a form of ritual and funerary monument similar to a round cairn cemetery or combinations of the two classes. Round funerary cairns were constructed during the Bronze Age (c.2000-700 BC) and consisted of earthen or rubble mounds, sometimes ditched, which covered single or multiple burials. Often occupying prominent locations, they are a major visual element in the modern landscape. The considerable variation in the size of cairn cemeteries and their 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. Rectilinear field systems are laid out following a long axis with parallel banks subsequently subdivided by cross banks or lynchets. The medieval system of farming in long strips may be based upon the earlier prehistoric field system with adaptations. The part of a field system and cairn field 375m west of Bojuthnoe Farm survives comparatively well and will contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to its construction, development, longevity, relative chronologies of features, adaptive re-use, agricultural practices, territorial significance, funerary and ritual customs and the relationships between the different features.
Details
The monument includes part of an extensive field system and cairnfield situated on the north eastern slopes of Boswens Common. The field system survives as an area of rectangular linear medieval strip fields defined by low stony banks which appear to be a modification of an early rectilinear prehistoric field system which is conspicuously aligned on a cairnfield to the west. Some of the surviving cairns are large enough to be interpreted as funerary cairns. At least one survives as a circular stony mound measuring 8.5m in diameter and 0.6m high and has a shallow early partial excavation trench across its summit.
Further archaeological remains in the vicinity are the subject of separate schedulings.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
Legacy System number:
CO 1092
Legacy System:
RSM - OCN
End of official list entry
