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 Craddock Moor is reasonably well preserved and has
never been archaeologically excavated. Its importance is further enhanced by
its association with the many other different but broadly contemporary classes
of funerary and ceremonial monuments on Craddock Moor, demonstrating well both
the diversity and organisation of burial practice and ritual during the Bronze
Age.
Details
The monument comprises a circular platform cairn on the south-east edge of
Craddock Moor on south-east Bodmin Moor.
The cairn survives substantially intact as a circular, slightly domed,
platform, 18m diameter and up to 0.75m high, sloping to 0.5m high around the
periphery, from where the edge drops steeply to ground level on all sides. It
is composed of heaped small to medium-sized stones, now largely turf-covered.
Some relatively recent stone extraction has created a well-defined hollow 5m
diameter and 0.5m deep at the cairn's centre, extending towards the cairn's
edge at the NNW side. A slight rim has been pushed up around the edges of the
hollow, raising the cairn's maximum height near the centre to 1m. The stone
extraction is restricted and well-defined in extent and has not extended to
ground level. This is an isolated cairn on the southern 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.
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.
