Reasons for Designation
Bodmin Moor, the largest of the Cornish granite uplands, has long been
recognised to have exceptional preservation of archaeological remains. The
Moor has been the subject of detailed archaeological survey and is one of the
best recorded upland landscapes in England. The extensive relict landscapes of
prehistoric, medieval and post-medieval date provide direct evidence for human
exploitation of the Moor from the earliest prehistoric period onwards. The
well-preserved and often visible relationship between settlement sites, field
systems, ceremonial and funerary monuments as well as later industrial remains
provides significant insights into successive changes in the pattern of land
use through time. Round cairns are funerary monuments covering single or
multiple burials and dating to the Bronze Age (c.2000-700 BC). They were
constructed as mounds of earth and stone rubble up to 40m in external diameter
but usually considerably smaller; a kerb of edge-set stones sometimes bounds
the edges of the mound. Burials were placed in small pits, or on occasion
within a box-like structure of stone slabs called a cist, let into the old
ground surface or dug into the body of the cairn. Round cairns can occur as
isolated monuments, in small groups or in larger cemeteries. Their
considerable variation in form and longevity as a monument type provides
important information on the diversity of beliefs, burial practices and social
organisation in the Bronze Age. They are particularly representative of their
period and a substantial proportion of surviving examples are considered
worthy of preservation.
Details
The monument includes a large prehistoric round cairn situated near the
southern end of the broad summit ridge of Brown Gelly hill on southern Bodmin
Moor. The cairn is the southernmost of a linear group of five large cairns
arranged along the ridge.
The round cairn survives with a circular mound of heaped rubble, 20m in
diameter and up to 2.6m high. The mound has an inverted-bowl shape with
largely turf-covered sides; several small stone-robbing hollows along part of
its northern lower edge reveal coursed rubble walling within the mound's
periphery. A broad and relatively recent stone-robbers' trench has been dug
east-west across the central upper part of the mound, up to 4.5m wide and 1m
deep, filled with exposed loose rubble, some of which has been heaped onto
each end of the trench.
Beyond the monument, this linear group extends over 375m in a slight curve
along the summit ridge of Brown Gelly, the nearest being located 60m to the
north-west. Extensive broadly contemporary settlement sites and field systems
are located on the eastern slope of the Browngelly Downs, 185m to the east.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
Legacy System number:
15266
Legacy System:
RSM
Sources
Books and journals Other
Legal
This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
End of official list entry
