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 group of four small round cairns, part of a larger
dispersed group of cairns situated on Craddock Moor on south-east Bodmin Moor.
This group of cairns includes a close-spaced straight line of three cairns on
an ENE-WSW axis, with the fourth cairn immediately west of the line's WSW end.
All of the cairns are composed of heaped small and medium sized stone up to
0.3m across and all are well covered by intact turf and moss vegetation. The
easternmost cairn survives as a circular mound, 6m diameter and 0.75m high. A
hollow, 2.5m in diameter and 0.4m deep, slightly NW of the mound's centre is
the only evidence for previous disturbance, the result of limited
stone-robbing that has long since ceased. The central cairn in the line of
three is separated from the eastern cairn by a gap of 2.5m and touches the
edge of the cairn to its WSW. This small cairn survives as a circular mound
2.5m diameter and 0.4m high, with no evidence for any previous disturbance.
The cairn at the WSW end of the line of three survives as a circular mound
6.5m diameter and 0.75m high. This cairn also has a central hollow, 2.5m
diameter and 0.4m deep, from an early stone-robbing episode. The westernmost
cairn in the group touches the edge of the cairn at the WSW end of the line of
three and survives as a small circular mound, 2m diameter and 0.4m high, with
no evidence for any disturbance. These cairns have been surveyed but not
archaeologically excavated. They form part of a more dispersed group of
seventeen cairns close to a Prehistoric embanked avenue. This cairn group is
situated in the floor of a broad valley near the NW edge of an extensive area
of funerary and ceremonial monuments typical of the early and middle Bronze
Age (c.2000 - 1000 BC) on the Craddock and Rillaton Moors.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
Legacy System number:
15068
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
