Embanked platform cairn 47m NW of Caradon Hill summit

Reasons for Designation

Bodmin Moor, the largest of the Cornish granite uplands, has long been recognised to have exceptional preservation of archaeological remains. The quality and diversity of the evidence is such that the moor has been the subject of detailed archaeological survey and hence it forms one of the best recorded upland landscapes in England. Of particular note are the extensive relict landscapes of Prehistoric, medieval and post-medieval date. Together these 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 dating to the Early Bronze Age (c.2000-700 BC), covering single or multiple burials. They were constructed as low flat-topped mounds of stone rubble, up to 40m in external diameter and sometimes supporting other features of heaped stone such as peripheral banks and internal mounds. A kerb of edge-set stones sometimes bounds the edges of the platform, bank or mound, or all three. Platform cairns can occur as isolated monuments, in small groups or in cairn cemeteries. Due to their comparative visual insignificance when compared to the larger types of round cairn, few were explored by 19th century antiquarians. As a result, they remain a poorly understood class of monument. Along with other funerary monuments they illustrate the diversity of beliefs and burial practices in the Bronze Age. Although no precise figure is available, current evidence indicates that there are under 250 known examples of this monument class nationally. As a rare class exhibiting considerable variation in form, a substantial proportion of surviving examples are considered worthy of preservation. This platform cairn on Caradon Hill is in a reasonably good condition and has not been excavated; the stone-robbing activity has caused only limited disturbance to the level of the old land surface and it is considered that any funerary deposits covered by this cairn will have survived intact. Its importance is enhanced by its position within a cairn group which contains a variety of different types of burial cairn, demonstrating well the diversity of burial practice during the Bronze Age.

Details

The monument comprises a large circular platform cairn with a peripheral bank, part of a linear cairn group near the summit of Caradon Hill on SE Bodmin Moor. The cairn survives as a large, circular, flat-topped platform of heaped small stones, 30m diameter and 0.4m high. The bank on the platform periphery starts 3m from platform edge, leaving a clear peripheral berm; the bank is also composed of heaped small stones and survives 2m wide and generally 0.5m above the platform level, rising to 1m high in the NW sector; it is visible around the entire periphery except the disturbed S sector. The cairn interior bears no trace of any internal mound, but has a number of hollows and hummocks from limited stone-robbing from the cairn. One such hollow exposes part of a recumbent slab, appearing 1m square, at the cairn's centre. The entry for these activities has been from the S and SE sector, where the peripheral bank and platform edge have been reduced. This cairn has been surveyed on several occasions since 1907 but has not been subject to archaeological excavation. It lies near the summit of Caradon Hill, at the W edge of a cluster of four cairns at the NE end of a linear cairn group which extends to the SW along the side of the hill's summit. This group contains ten recorded cairns of several types typical of the Early and Middle Bronze Age (c.2000 - 1000 BC)

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:

15040

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Other
Title: Ordnance Survey 6": 1 mile Map: Cornwall XXVIII NW Source Date: 1907 Author: Publisher: Surveyor:
AM 7 scheduling documentation and maplet for CO 541c, Consulted 3/1991
Consulted 3/1991, Cornwall SMR entry for PRN 1409.08,
3/1991, Cornwall SMR entry for PRN 1409.04 and .12,
Consulted 3/1991, Carter, A/RCHME, 1:2500 Air Photo Transcripton: SX 2770 (Consulted 3/1991),
Consulted 3/1991, Cornwall SMR entry for PRN 1409.10,

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