Round cairn with double orthostatic kerb and cist 497m SE of Trewortha 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 cairn on Kilmar Tor has survived well, displaying several unusual features, notably the combination of an oval mound, intact partly orthostatic kerbs and a well-preserved cist. There is no evident or recorded disturbance. It is not considered that the cist was originally covered by much more mound material than at present. Though it is likely that the cist's contents were removed when the cover slab was displaced, this is by no means certain in this instance and no antiquarian trenching is apparent. The cairn will also retain intact its other sub-surface features, including any other burial deposits. This cairn's proximity to broadly contemporary settlement sites and funerary monuments of various types demonstrates well the organisation of land use and the diversity of funerary practices during the Bronze Age.

Details

The monument includes a well-preserved cairn with a double orthostatic kerb about a central cist, situated near other similar cairns and close to Prehistoric field systems and settlement sites on the north-western lower slope of Kilmar Tor on eastern Bodmin Moor. The cairn survives with an oval mound of heaped rubble, measuring 6m WNW-ESE by 4.5m NNE-SSW and rising to 0.75m high. A kerb of twelve upright slabs, called orthostats, is set within the periphery of the cairn at the ESE end of the mound, defining a circular area 4m in diameter. This outer kerb's orthostats are almost contiguous with graded heights, the tallest, 1m high, being situated in the ESE sector with neighbouring orthostats of lesser heights down to 0.5m. The orthostat at the WSW leans, and has become displaced, outwards. Within the outer kerb is an almost concentric inner kerb, 2m in diameter though again with its WSW stone leaning and displaced outwards by 1m. The inner kerb comprises contiguous edge-set slabs of even height, 0.5m above the surrounding ground level, matching that of the rubble which fills the 0.8-1.2m wide gap between the two kerbs. The inner kerb also prevents the rubble from entering the central area whose general level is 0.3m below the kerb's upper edge. Within the hollowed central area is a box- like, slab-lined structure called a cist, whose covering slab has become displaced and tilted into the SW side of the cist's interior. The remainder of the cist is extensively obscured by soil deposits and vegetation but its lining slab on the NNE long side is visible, surviving at least 1.3m long and 0.5m deep. The covering slab is sub-rectangular, measuring 1.4m by 0.75m and 0.35m thick.

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:

15110

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
consulted 9/1991, Cornwall SMR entry for PRN 1012.01,
consulted 9/1991, Cornwall SMR entry for PRN 1288,
consulted 9/1991, Carter, A./RCHME, 1:2500 AP transcription for SX 2475,
consulted 9/1991, Cornwall SMR entry for PRN 1012.02,
consulted 9/1991, Cornwall SMR entry for PRN 1077,
consulted 9/1991, Cornwall SMR entry for PRN 1012.05,

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