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 on the north-west slope of Showery Tor has survived well
despite the limited and well-defined disturbance of stone robbers. Its
proximity to other broadly contemporary funerary and settlement sites
demonstrates well the nature of funerary practices during the Bronze Age and
provides rare evidence for a major development in landuse organisation within
the Bronze Age.
Details
The monument includes a small prehistoric cairn situated near other broadly
contemporary cairns, settlement sites and field systems on the north-western
slope of the Showery Tor ridge on north-west Bodmin Moor.
The round cairn survives as an ovoid mound of heaped rubble, measuring 6.5m
north-south, along the hillslope, by 5m east-west, down the hillslope, and
rising up to 0.5m high. Relatively recent stone robbing has produced a NW-SE
hollow, 2m wide and 0.3m deep, across the mound's upper surface, accompanied
by a small irregular hummock of spoil, 0.1m high, extending 2m beyond the
cairn's north-west edge.
This cairn is one of a dispersed and varied group of at least twelve broadly
contemporary funerary cairns situated on and near prehistoric field walls
covering three hectares on the north-west slopes of Showery Tor. These cairns
appear to post-date the partial dismantling of the field walls which occurred
after a change in the prehistoric land use of the area.
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.
