Details

The monument includes three small prehistoric house platforms situated on the
upper south-east slope of Roughtor on north-west Bodmin Moor.
The house platforms are spaced 9m-11m apart as a triangular group. Each is
visible as a small sub-circular, cleared and levelled internal area defined by
a slight wall of rubble comprising stone cleared to the edges of the interior
and roughly heaped onto the surrounding natural surface stone and boulders of
the densely scree-strewn slope. The western house platform of the group has
an internal area measuring 2.3m east-west by 2m north-south, with a wall up to
1m wide and 0.5m high. Situated 9m to the north-east, the group's northern
house platform measures 2.7m east-west by 2.2m north-south internally; its
wall is 1.2m wide and 0.4m high. The eastern house platform of the group is
situated a further 12m to the south-east and measures 2m east-west by 1.75m
north-south, with a rubble wall up to 1m wide and 0.5m high. These house
platforms form a closely-spaced cluster at the north-east of a more dispersed
group, including at least ten similar house platforms, which extends beyond
this monument to the south-west for up to 125m along the slope. The walls of
a broadly contemporary, Neolithic hilltop enclosure, containing numerous house
platforms, are located 25m north-west of this monument on the summit of
Roughtor, while extensive Bronze Age and medieval settlement sites and field
systems are situated on the lower slopes of Roughtor, from 140m to the south.

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.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

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.
House platforms are one of several known types of settlement site dating from
the Neolithic to the Romano-British periods (from c.3000 BC to c.AD 400).
Individual house platforms may be dated by excavation or by their association
with other monuments of known date. They consist of levelled stances,
variously circular, ovoid or sub-rectangular in shape, on which rectangular or
circular buildings were constructed. The timber uprights forming the frames of
the buildings have not survived, but excavations have revealed their post-
holes and associated domestic debris. Where they occur in stony areas, rubble
cleared from the platforms may be simply pushed to the edges of each stance or
aggregated to form a rough wall.
House platforms may occur singly or in groups, and in the open or enclosed by
a boulder and rubble wall. House platforms may also form an element contained
within hillforts dating to the Neolithic and Iron Age periods. At least 20
house platforms are known from Bodmin Moor, a figure which is expected to
increase with future recognition and which forms an important sub-group of the
national total.

The house platforms on Roughtor have survived well, without excavation or any
other visible or recorded disturbance. Their proximity to the Neolithic
hilltop enclosure on Roughtor, itself containing numerous house platforms,
provides a rare and valuable insight into the complex nature of settlement in
the earlier prehistoric period. Their presence near Bronze Age and medieval
settlements and field systems demonstrates well the development of land use on
this remote hillside during and since the prehistoric period.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
consulted 1992, Carter, A./CAU/RCHME, 1:2500 AP transcriptions and field trace for SX 1480,
to be PRN 3319 (part); consulted 1992, Rose, P. G. & R. R., Cornwall SMR Field Survey Record Card for Roughtor South 103, (1985)
to be PRN 3319 (part); consulted 1992, Rose, P.G. & R.R., Cornwall SMR Field Survey Record Card for Roughtor South 102, (1985)

Source: Historic England