Round cairn and shelters 812m 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 with 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, 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 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 Caradon Hill survives substantially intact, has not been excavated, and will retain many of its original features, including 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 large circular funerary cairn with two small shelters scooped into one side, at the SW end of a linear cairn group on a SSW spur of Caradon Hill, on the SE edge of Bodmin Moor. The cairn survives as a large circular mound, 23m in diameter and up to 2m high, of heaped stones varying in size from small pebbles to small boulders up to 1m across. Some stone extraction has occurred in the relatively recent past, removing stone from the NNW side of the cairn, extending to the mound's centre, but leaving the remainder of the cairn's mound intact. The surface beneath the area from which stone has been removed retains well-consolidated stone of the cairn mound, 0.4m above the external ground level, and is largely turf-covered. In the E and SE sides of the cairn are two small scoops in the stone rubble content of the mound, each 3m in diameter and 0.75m deep, separated by a very coarsely-built drystone wall. Such structures are typical of short-term shelters for medieval and post-medieval workers on the moor. This cairn has been surveyed but has not been subject to archaeological excavation. It lies at 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:

15051

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 1421,
Amendments & Additions, Rose, P & Herring, P, Bodmin Moor, Cornwall. An Evaluation for the MPP, (1990)
consulted 3/1991, Cornwall SMR entry for PRN 1411.06,
consulted 3/1991, Cornwall SMR entry for PRN 1412,
consulted 3/1991, Cornwall SMR entry for PRN 1411.07,

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