Prehistoric platform cairn 365m north of Furswain 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. Platform cairns are funerary monuments covering single or multiple burials and dating to the Early Bronze Age (c.2000-1600 BC). They were constructed as low flat-topped mounds of stone rubble up to 40m in external diameter. Some examples have other features, including peripheral banks and internal mounds, constructed on this platform. A kerb of edge-set stones sometimes bounds the edges of the platform, bank or mound, or all three. Platform cairns occur as isolated monuments, in small groups, or in cairn cemeteries. In the latter instances they are normally found alongside cairns of other types. Although no precise figure is available, current evidence indicates that there are under 250 known examples of this monument class nationally. As a rare monument type exhibiting considerable variation in form, a substantial proportion of surviving examples are considered worthy of preservation.

This platform cairn on Furswain Farm has survived well despite some limited disturbance from antiquarian investigation. The cairn's mound, internal deposits and buried land surface will survive substantially intact and the thick peat covering the mound's periphery will also preserve environmental deposits contemporary with the cairn's construction and use. The proximity of the cairn to the round cairns on the summit of this hill demonstrates well the nature and diversity of funerary practices during the Bronze Age.

Details

The monument includes a prehistoric funerary platform cairn situated near two other broadly contemporary cairns on the summit of a small hill east of the River Fowey valley on south-east Bodmin Moor. The cairn is visible as a largely turf-covered platform of heaped rubble, 15m in diameter and up to 0.3m high above the surrounding thick peaty turf which partly masks the cairn's periphery. Unrecorded antiquarian excavation has produced several shallow hollows, up to 0.1m deep, within the surface of the platform. This cairn is centred 77m south-east and 68m south of two further round cairns, together forming a loose grouping about the hill's summit.

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:

15236

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Trahair, J E R, Cornish Archaeology in A survey of cairns on Bodmin Moor, Vol. 17, (1978)

Other
Title: 1:10000 Ordnance Survey Map; SX 27 SW Source Date: 1982 Author: Publisher: Surveyor:
consulted 1992, Cornwall SMR entry for PRN 1239.3,
consulted 1992, Carter, A./CAU/RCHME, 1:2500 AP plot and field trace for SX 2271,

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.