Round cairn 740m SSW 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.

Round cairns are funerary monuments dating to the Bronze Age (c.2000-700 BC), covering single or multiple burials. 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. Round cairns are sometimes associated with external ditches, though none have been recorded from examples on Bodmin Moor. Burials were placed in small pits, sometimes containing a box-like structure of stone slabs called a cist, let into the old ground surface, and or in the body of the cairn itself. Round cairns can occur as isolated monuments, in small groups or in cairn cemeteries. Often occupying prominent locations, they are a major visual element in the modern landscape. Their considerable variation in form and longevity as a monument type provide 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 Caradon Hill has not been excavated and survives largely intact; consequently it will retain many of its original features, including undisturbed burial deposits. Its importance is enhanced by its location within a cairn group containing a variety of different types of burial monument, demonstrating well the diversity of burial practice during the Bronze Age.

Details

The monument comprises a round cairn on and around a natural rock outcrop, part of a linear cairn group on a SSW spur of Caradon Hill, on the SE edge of Bodmin Moor. The cairn survives as circular mound, 14m diameter and up to 1.75m high, composed of small to medium-sized stones, up to c.0.5m long, heaped upon a small natural flat rock outcrop, extending beyond its edge on the N and E sides, but defined by a sheer drop along the outcrop's S and W sides. The outcrop clearly forms the bulk of the cairn's volume, but the heaped stone is well-consolidated and largely turf-covered, with no evidence for any previous disturbance. This cairn has been surveyed but has not been subject to archaeological excavation. It lies near the SW end of a dispersed linear group of cairns that extends along the crest of a broad spur running SSW from Caradon Hill and contains nine 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:

15052

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Sharpe, A, The Minions Area Archaeological Survey and Management (Volume 2), (1989)

Other
consulted 3/1991, Cornwall SMR entry for PRN 1411.06,
Consulted 3/1991, Cornwall SMR entry for PRN 1421,
consulted 3/1991, Cornwall SMR entry for PRN 1411.10,

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