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Round cairn with central cist 1.05km east of Trewortha Farm

A Scheduled Monument in North Hill, Cornwall

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Coordinates

Latitude: 50.5518 / 50°33'6"N

Longitude: -4.4688 / 4°28'7"W

OS Eastings: 225205.597908

OS Northings: 75360.045622

OS Grid: SX252753

Mapcode National: GBR NF.GPYN

Mapcode Global: FRA 17JL.WBV

Entry Name: Round cairn with central cist 1.05km east of Trewortha Farm

Scheduled Date: 10 June 1992

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1009735

English Heritage Legacy ID: 15099

County: Cornwall

Civil Parish: North Hill

Traditional County: Cornwall

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): Cornwall

Church of England Parish: North Hill

Church of England Diocese: Truro

Details

The monument comprises a Prehistoric round cairn with a central stone cist,
the southernmost cairn of a widely spaced SSE-NNW linear group of three round
cairns, situated near other broadly contemporary cairns, field systems and
settlement sites on the wide saddle of Twelve Men's Moor between Kilmar Tor
and the Trewortha Tor-Hawkstor ridge on eastern Bodmin Moor.
The cairn survives as a turf-covered mound of heaped rubble, 6m in diameter
and up to 0.75m high. At the top of the mound is a rectangular pit comprising
a box-like structure called a cist, lined by vertical stone slabs, within
which a burial would have been deposited. The northern half of the cist is
filled by soil and vegetation. The cist measures 0.6m internally on its
north-south long axis by 0.5m wide and is 0.4m deep. The coverstone, forming
the roof of the cist, is a flat granite slab measuring 1.5m by 1m, which has
been displaced and now lies on the surface of the cairn mound immediately NE
of the cist. This cairn is situated 175m and 245m SSE of the other two cairns
in its linear group. Each of these cairns contains a cist.

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. Round cairns are funerary monuments covering single or
multiple burials and dating to the Bronze Age (c.2000-700 BC). 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. Burials were placed in small pits, or on occasion
within a box-like structure of stone slabs called a cist, let into the old
ground surface or dug into the body of the cairn. Round cairns can occur as
isolated monuments, in small groups or in larger cemeteries. Their
considerable variation in form and longevity as a monument type provides
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 with its central cist on Twelve Men's Moor has survived well,
its only apparent disturbance being limited to the opening of the cist. The
cairn's mound in which the cist remains embedded is well consolidated,
surviving to a substantial height, and will retain its original internal
features including any burial deposits outside the cist. Its proximity to
other broadly contemporary burial monuments of differing types and to field
systems and settlement sites demonstrates well both the diversity of funerary
practices and the organisation of land use during the Bronze Age.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Trahair, J E R, 'Cornish Archaeology' in A survey of cairns on Bodmin Moor, , Vol. 17, (1978)
Other
consulted 9/1991, Carter, A./RCHME, 1:2500 AP transcriptions for SX 2475 & 2575,
consulted 9/1991, Cornwall SMR entry for PRN 1013,
consulted 9/1991, Cornwall SMR entry for PRN 1014,
consulted 9/1991, Cornwall SMR entry for PRN 1173.1,
consulted 9/1991, Cornwall SMR entry for PRN 1173.2,
consulted 9/1991, Cornwall SMR entry for PRN 1190,

Source: Historic England

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