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 well preserved and has never been
excavated. Its importance is further enhanced by its association with the
many other differing but broadly contemporary classes of funerary and
ceremonial monuments on Craddock Moor, demonstrating well both the diversity
and the organisation of burial practice and ritual during the Bronze Age.
Details
The monument comprises a large circular platform cairn with a peripheral berm,
near the north-east edge of Craddock Moor on south-east Bodmin Moor.
The cairn is well preserved and survives as a relatively low mound with a
flattened top and steep sides, 24m diameter and 1m high. It is largely
turf-covered but its content of heaped small to medium stone is visible in
places. The cairn's upper surface has a slight peripheral bank, 14m in
external diameter, 1.5m wide and up to 0.2m high, leaving a level margin
0.5-1m wide between the bank and the sides of the cairn. Within this bank is
a low mound 3.5m diameter and 0.3m high, located slightly north of the cairn's
centre. Around the base of the mound's sides, a broad low ledge, called a
berm, is visible, 3.5m wide and 0.25m high, giving a total diameter for the
cairn of 31m. The form of this cairn is well-preserved, with only minor
disturbance evident from slight hollows in the upper surface. It has been
surveyed and recorded on several occasions since 1948 but has not been
excavated. This is an isolated cairn situated on the highest point of
Craddock Moor amid 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.
