Prehistoric and medieval settlements with fields and enclosures together with Bronze Age cairns and medieval alluvial streamwork at Garrow Tor

Reasons for Designation

Bodmin Moor, the largest of the Cornish granite uplands, has long been recognised to have exceptional preservation of archaeological remains. The Moor has been the subject of detailed archaeological survey and is one of the best recorded upland landscapes in England. The extensive relict landscapes of prehistoric, medieval and post-medieval date 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.

Despite scrub growth, the multi-period agricultural and industrial landscape at Garrow Tor survives very well and is recognised as one of the most important archaeological landscapes in Cornwall, which itself is seen as a county that has a particularly rich historic environment. The upstanding remains of dwellings and fields of prehistoric and historic date provide an important insight into the communities that lived and worked here for millennia. Significant and informative archaeological deposits and structures survive around Garrow and its remote location combined with the robust construction methods used means that the monument is still clearly understandable. Sources: Cole, R. Ivey and Hawkstor Farms - An Archaeological Assessment Dudley, D. and Minter, E.M. The Medieval Village of Garrow Tor, Bodmin Moor, Cornwall Herring, P. (ed) Bodmin Moor and Archaeological Survey Volume 2

Details

The monument includes the extensive earthworks, standing remains and buried deposits of both prehistoric and medieval archaeology situated on and around the prominent hill known as Garrow Tor on Bodmin Moor. The prehistoric archaeology includes at least one Mesolithic and Neolithic flint scatter, several Bronze Age stone hut circle settlements with associated enclosures, field systems and at least ten funerary cairns. Excavations have demonstrated that occupation continued into the Iron Age and Romano-British periods and these also form part of the monument. The medieval remains include a settlement with six long houses and an associated extensive strip field system containing hundreds of small clearance cairns. Additional archaeological features and structures include medieval and later tin streamworking remains and historic transhumance buildings or barns. The evidence for Mesolithic and Neolithic activity survives as a flint scatter at SX 14757799 and demonstrates early use of the area. The much more tangible evidence of Bronze Age occupation includes at least 180 stone hut circles clustered within seven groups. The north eastern group of at least 35 huts is situated within a double agglomerated enclosure on the east facing slope immediately below Garrow Tor. The largest concentration of huts is on the western slope and includes at least 72 huts situated within an irregular aggregate field system defined by rubble walling extending over 12 hectares. Excavation of one hut by Dudley recovered Romano-British pottery suggesting continued interest in this area at this time. Another irregular aggregate field system, including at least 12 fields on the southern slope of the hill at NGR SX14427785, contains a further 25 huts, whilst a tight cluster of 27 stone hut circles at NGR SX14307804 is associated with a few lengths of rubble walling and a round cairn. The nine stone hut circles adjacent to the later medieval settlement and a further four at NGR SX14167775 have no associated fields or enclosures. A short distance south of the latter group is a small agglomerated enclosure with five stone hut circles, four of which were excavated by Dudley in the 1950s. This work revealed that at least one hut was re-occupied during the Iron Age. A total of ten funerary cairns have been identified at Garrow. All are relatively small and below 0.5m in height. Three have visible cists, three are kerbed and one is a small ring cairn. The medieval impact on the landscape at Garrow is considerable. A large scale strip field system extending over 40 hectares was established over time around the lower eastern and southern slopes of the hill. The interiors of the fields contain narrow ridge and furrow and a myriad of small clearance cairns. Further fields survive west of the tor and these too are associated with large numbers of clearance cairns. On the eastern side of the hill at NGR SX14567799 is a medieval settlement including six long houses, barns and a corn-drying kiln. Excavations have revealed that the settlement evolved during the 13th - 15th centuries and later shrank to a single farmhouse with barns and beehive hut before being abandoned in the early 19th century. A number of small structures scattered around the slopes of Garrow Tor represent the sites of field barns and some of the earlier hut circles may have been adapted and re-used in the early 19th century. In the valley bottom at the foot of the southern and western slopes are alluvial streamwork earthworks evidencing tinworking, consisting mainly of substantial banks and hollows running parallel with the river. This type of earthwork is considered to be medieval in date, a detail confirmed by the relationship between part of the medieval field system and streamwork which suggests that elements of both are broadly contemporary. Garrow Cottage, associated roofed barns and fencing are excluded from the scheduling, but the ground below them is included.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

36059

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Cole, R, Ivey and Hawkstor Farms - An archaeological assessment, (1997), 109-110
Cole, R, Ivey and Hawkstor Farms - An archaeological assessment, (1997), 98
Cole, R, Ivey and Hawkstor Farms - An archaeological assessment, (1997), 102-106
Cole, R, Ivey and Hawkstor Farms - An archaeological assessment, (1997), 105
Cole, R, Ivey and Hawkstor Farms - An archaeological assessment, (1997), 103-104
Cole, R, Ivey and Hawkstor Farms - An archaeological assessment, (1997), 104-105
Cole, R, Ivey and Hawkstor Farms - An archaeological assessment, (1997), 101-102
Cole, R, Ivey and Hawkstor Farms - An archaeological assessment, (1997), 106
Cole, R, Ivey and Hawkstor Farms - An archaeological assessment, (1997), 99-101
Cole, R, Ivey and Hawkstor Farms - An archaeological assessment, (1997), 113
Cole, R, Ivey and Hawkstor Farms - An archaeological assessment, (1997), 95-99
Cole, R, Ivey and Hawkstor Farms - An archaeological assessment, (1997), 107-109
Dudley, D, Minter, E M, Medieval Archaeology in The Medieval Village of Garrow Tor, Bodmin Moor, Cornwall, Vol. 6-7, (1963), 272-94

Other
Figure 28, Herring, P (ed), Bodmin Moor An Archaeological Survey Volume 2, (2008)

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