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. Ring cairns are ritual monuments comprising a circular bank
of stones surrounding a hollow central area. The bank may be kerbed on the
inside, and sometimes on the outside as well, with small uprights or boulders.
Excavation has revealed the presence of pits, some containing cremation
burials, within the central area. Ring cairns are contemporary with other
Bronze Age (c.2000-700 BC) funerary monuments on the Moor. Although no precise
figure is available, current evidence indicates that there are only between
250 and 500 known examples of this monument class nationally. As a relatively
rare monument type exhibiting considerable variation in form, a substantial
proportion of surviving examples are considered worthy of preservation.
Details
The monument includes a small prehistoric ring cairn, one of a linear group of
cairns situated on the lower south eastern slope of Roughtor in the upper
valley of the De Lank River on north west Bodmin Moor. A medieval tin-miners'
water-course cuts through part of the cairn.
The cairn survives with a circular bank of heaped rubble up to 9.5m in
external diameter. The bank is up to 1.25m wide and 0.2m high incorporating
occasional edge-set facing slabs, up to 0.7m long, along its inner edge. A
medieval tin-miners' water-course, called a leat, passes across the northern
sector of the cairn's bank in its WNW-ESE course to supply water to the tin-
workings along the valley floor. The leat, visible as a slight ditch 1m wide
and 0.2m deep, creates a break 2m wide in the northern part of the cairn bank.
Another 2m wide break in the bank's WSW sector is considered to derive from an
unrecorded antiquarian excavation at this cairn. Rubble removed from both of
these breaks has been heaped onto the cairn bank's north western sector,
creating an ovoid mound measuring 5.75m NE-SW by 5m NW-SE and rising 0.6m
high, with an irregular upper surface with hollows up to 0.3m deep.
This ring cairn is situated in the SSW half of a linear group of nine broadly
contemporary small cairns arranged on an almost straight NNE-SSW alignment
over 280m along a slight crest in the valley side c.150m west of the De Lank
River. The other eight cairns, beyond this monument, also include a second
ring cairn. The linear cairn group is located near other broadly contemporary
settlement sites, field systems, funerary and ritual monuments on the slopes
of Roughtor.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
Legacy System number:
15221
Legacy System:
RSM
Sources
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
