Details

The monument includes four small prehistoric house platforms situated on the
upper south-east slope of Roughtor on north-west Bodmin Moor.
The house platforms are spaced 2m-8m apart as a linear group on a NNE-SSW axis
along the slope. Each is visible as a small sub-circular, cleared internal
area, levelled into the slope and defined by a slight wall of rubble
comprising stone cleared to the edges of the interior, roughly heaped about
the periphery and incorporating surrounding natural boulders of this densely
scree-strewn slope. The NNE house platform of the group has an internal area
measuring 5.9m east-west by 5.1m north-south, with a wall up to 1.4m wide and
0.35m high. Situated 7.5m to the south-west, the next house platform in the
group measures 4.5m east-west by 5.3m north-south internally, its 1.5m wide
and 0.25m high wall incorporating a scatter of boulders on its north side. A
gap of 2.5m to the south separates this from the group's next house platform
which measures 4.4m east-west by 3.6m north-south, with a rubble wall up to
1.7m wide and 0.25m high, incorporating a large natural boulder on its west
side. The SSW house platform measures 7.2m east-west by 7m north-south
internally, with a rubble wall up to 1.4m wide and 0.4m high. These house
platforms form a closely-spaced cluster near the centre of a more dispersed
group including at least ten similar house platforms, which extends beyond
this monument for 50m to the west and 73m to the north-east. The walls of a
broadly contemporary, Neolithic hilltop enclosure, containing numerous house
platforms, are located 90m north of this monument on the summit plateau of
Roughtor, while extensive Bronze Age and medieval settlement sites and field
systems are situated on the lower slopes of Roughtor, 55m 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.

These 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 100, (1985)
to be PRN 3319 (part); consulted 1992, Rose, P.G. & R.R., Cornwall SMR Field Survey Record Card for Roughtor South 101, (1985)
to be PRN 3319 (part); consulted 1992, Rose, P.G. & R.R., Cornwall SMR Field Survey Record Card for Roughtor South 111, (1985)
to be PRN 3319 (part); consulted 1992, Rose, P.G. & R.R., Cornwall SMR Field Survey Record Card for Roughtor South 99, (1985)

Source: Historic England