Details

The monument comprises a Prehistoric round funerary cairn situated close to a
broadly contemporary trackway, hut circle settlement and irregular field
system on the SW slope of the Langstone Downs on SE Bodmin Moor.
The cairn survives as a turf-covered oval mound of heaped stone rubble
measuring 5.5m NW-SE by 4m NE-SW and rising 0.5m high. The only disturbance
evident comprises a slight hollow, 1m wide and up to 0.1m deep, which crosses
the mound NW-SE, indicating a limited stone-robbing episode that may have
produced the elongation of the monument on that axis.

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 on the Langstone Downs has survived reasonably well despite
the limited action of stone robbers and it will retain numerous original
features, including burial deposits. Its proximity to extensive, broadly
contemporary field systems and settlement sites demonstrates well the
organisation of land use during the Bronze Age.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
consulted 6/1991, Carter, A./RCHME, 1:2500 AP transcription for SX 2573,
consulted 7/1991, Cornwall SMR entry for PRN 1434,
consulted 7/1991, Cornwall SMR entry for PRN 1464,

Source: Historic England