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 at any 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 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 is reasonably well-preserved, 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, one of a linear cairn
group on a SSW spur of Caradon Hill, on the SE edge of Bodmin Moor.
The cairn survives as a circular mound, largely turf-covered, 18.5m in
diameter and up to 2.25m high, of heaped small to medium-sized stones, with
occasional larger stones up to 1m long. Some relatively recent stone-
quarrying is evident as limited depressions up to 1m deep in the N half of the
cairn's central area. This cairn has been surveyed and recorded on several
occasions since 1907 but has not been subject to any archaeological
excavation. It lies towards the NE 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.
