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. Stone alignments or stone rows consist of upright stones
set in a single line, or in two or more parallel lines, up to several hundred
metres in length. They are often sited close to prehistoric burial monuments,
such as small cairns and cists, and to ritual monuments, such as stone
circles, and are therefore considered to have had an important ceremonial
function. The seven stone alignments known on Bodmin Moor date from the Late
Neolithic to Early Bronze Age periods (c.2400-1600 BC) and provide rare
evidence of ceremonial and ritual practices on the Moor during these periods.
Due to their rarity and longevity as a monument type, all examples that are
not extensively damaged will be considered nationally important.
These two cairns have survived well; despite the limited disturbance evident
in the larger cairn it has survived largely intact and will retain many
original features including funerary deposits. The close proximity of the
cairnfield containing these cairns to extensive Prehistoric field systems,
settlement sites and other groups of cairns and its integration with them
indicates their broad contemporaneity, demonstrating well the nature of
agricultural practices and organisation of land use during the Bronze Age.
Details
The monument includes two Prehistoric cairns, one a small funerary round
cairn, the other a large clearance cairn, forming part of a dispersed
cairnfield of ten similar cairns situated near extensive Prehistoric field
systems, linear boundaries, hut circles and cairns on the lower western slope
of the Langstone Downs on SE Bodmin Moor.
The two cairns are centred 18.5m apart on a NW-SE axis. Each survives with a
circular mound of well consolidated heaped rubble, largely turf-covered with
few exposures of the stone content. The larger, south-eastern cairn in this
monument is 7.5m in diameter and 1m high, formed as an inverted bowl shape
with a shallow hollow in the top, possibly the result of an early antiquarian
exploration. The north-western cairn is 4m diameter and 0.6m high, also an
inverted bowl shape.
The two cairns included in this monument are situated at the northern end of
the larger dispersed group of cairns which is arranged in a horseshoe-shaped
curve encompassing 0.75 hectare of gently sloping stone-free land. The larger
circular cairn in this monument is of appropriate size and shape to suggest a
funerary function. Prehistoric field boundaries and cleared plots,
incorporating other clearance cairns, extend to within 25m of this group on
its SE, east and north sides.
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.
