Round cairn with central cist on Bearah Common, 1.106km north of Wardbrook 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 round cairn and cist on Bearah Common has survived well, retaining many original features, with only minor disturbance evident from working the edges of the covering slab. It has not been archaeologically excavated. The thick peat in this area, extending over the cairn's edges, will preserve its peripheral structure, buried land surfaces and environmental evidence contemporary with, and subsequent to, its construction. Its proximity to other broadly contemporary cairns and a major linear boundary demonstrates well the nature of ritual activities and the organisation of land use during the Bronze Age.

Details

The monument includes a small Prehistoric round cairn with a central cist situated near other broadly contemporary cairns and a major Prehistoric linear boundary in the broad saddle between Bearah Tor and the Langstone Downs on eastern Bodmin Moor. The cairn survives with a circular mound of heaped rubble, 5.3m in diameter and up to 0.5m high. The mound is covered by a thick peaty turf which has protected this cairn from earlier antiquarian discovery and disturbance. At the centre of the mound is a slab-built, box-like structure called a cist, sunk into the cairn so that the base of its covering slab is level with the mound's upper surface. The cist is rectangular in plan and each side is formed from a single slab 0.1m thick, giving an internal chamber measuring 1.1m long, WNW-ESE, by 0.65m wide, NNE-SSW, and 0.7m deep. The two side slabs and the ESE end-slab are upright; only the WNW end-slab leans slightly inwards. The cist's covering slab is sub-circular, 1m in diameter and 0.15m thick. The covering slab has several small angular facets along its edge which may result from a recent, unsuccessful, attempt to fashion it into a millstone.

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:

15157

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Other
consulted 7/1991, Carter, A./RCHME, 1:2500 AP transcriptions for SX 2673 & SX 2674,
consulted 9/1991, Carter, A./RCHME, 1:2500 AP transcription for SX 2574,

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