Round cairn on Draynes Common, 950m south-west of Lamelgate Farm

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.

This round cairn on Draynes Common has survived substantially intact despite the evidence for an unrecorded antiquarian excavation near its centre. The thick peat deposits around the monument will preserve evidence for the environmental context during and after the cairn's construction and use. The setting of this cairn with respect to the broadly contemporary settlement sites and field systems bordering the Draynes Common ridge demonstrates well the relationship of funerary practices with settlement and farming activities among prehistoric communities.

Details

The monument includes a prehistoric funerary round cairn situated near the western crest of a broad ridge occupied by Draynes Common on southern Bodmin Moor. The cairn survives with a turf-covered circular mound of heaped rubble, up to 9.5m in diameter and 1m high above the thick peat deposits which extend from the edges of the cairn. Near the centre of the mound is a hollow, 2.5m in diameter and 0.5m deep, resulting from an unrecorded antiquarian excavation. Spoil from this excavation forms a slight ridge, up to 0.3m high and extending up to 1.5m from the edges of the hollow on its south and west sides. Beyond the monument, a broadly contemporary platform cairn is located on the highest point of the ridge, 320m to the south-east, while prehistoric hut circle settlements and field systems are situated on the lower slopes bordering the ridge from 1km to the south-west and 1.1km to the north-east.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract. It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features, considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

15275

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Other
consulted 1993, Carter, A./Fletcher, M.J./RCHME, 1:2500 AP plot and field trace for SX 2170,
consulted 1993, Cornwall SMR entry for PRN 1360,

End of official list entry

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