Banked cairn 175m SW 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.

Banked cairns are funerary monuments dating to the Early Bronze Age (c.2000-1600 BC), covering single or multiple burials. They comprise a circular bank of stone rubble, up to 30m in external diameter and sometimes accompanied by an internal ditch, surrounding a central mound of earth and rubble. A kerb of edge-set stones sometimes bounds the edges of the bank or mound or both. They can occur as isolated monuments, in small groups or in cairn cemeteries. The burials, either inhumations or cremations, can occur in small pits or in box-like structures of stone slabs called cists either dug into the mound or set into the old land surface. 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 banked cairn on Caradon Hill is reasonably well-preserved, despite the earlier actions of stone robbers, and will retain numerous original features, including burial deposits. Its importance is enhanced by its location within a cairn group which contains a variety of different types of burial monument, demonstrating well the diverse nature of burial practice in the Bronze Age.

Details

The monument comprises a large banked funerary cairn with traces of a central mound, part of a linear cairn group on the summit of Caradon Hill on SE Bodmin Moor. The cairn survives with an irregular central mound, c.10m in diameter and up to 1m high, composed of small to medium stones, with a number of smaller heaps and hollows in its surface deriving from the relatively recent activities of stone-robbers which have also spread the mound towards the outer bank in the S half. In the less disturbed N and NW sectors a clear gap, 4m wide and at the same level as the external ground surface, is observable between the central mound and an encircling bank, 22m in external diameter, 2-2.5m wide and up to 0.4m high. This bank is also composed of heaped small stones. The disturbance is of limited depth and extent and it is considered that sub-surface funerary deposits and the old land surface beneath this cairn will have survived intact. This cairn has been surveyed on several occasions since 1907 but it has not been subject to any archaeological excavation. It lies near the centre of a linear cairn group which extends NE-SW along the SW side of the hill's summit and contains ten recorded cairns of several types typical of the Early and Middle Bronze Age (c.2000 - 1000 BC). The modern post-and-wire fence bounding the subsidiary transmitter station is excluded from the scheduling but the land beneath it is included.

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:

15043

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Other
Title: Ordnance Survey 6": 1 mile Map: Cornwall XXVIII NW Source Date: 1907 Author: Publisher: Surveyor:
AM 7 scheduling description and maplet for CO 541d, 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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