Details

The monument comprises a Prehistoric round cairn, one of a scattered group of
twelve cairns, situated near a Neolithic long cairn and 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, 5m in diameter
and up to 0.6m high, forming a steep inverted bowl shape. The cairn has a
slightly flattened top bearing a shallow hollow, 1.2m in diameter and 0.2m
deep, resulting from an early stone robbing episode. This cairn is centred
16m ENE and 27m SW of two similar small cairns, the nearest in its scattered
group.

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 Twelve Men's Moor has survived well despite the limited
and well-defined actions of stone-robbers and it will retain many original
features including burial deposits. Its proximity to other earlier and
broadly contemporary burial monuments of differing types and to Prehistoric
field systems and settlement sites demonstrates well the development and
diversity of funerary practices and the organisation of land use during the
Earlier Prehistoric period.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Trahair, J E R, 'Cornish Archaeology' in A survey of cairns on Bodmin Moor, , Vol. 17, (1978), 3-24
Other
9/1991, Cornwall SMR entry for PRN 1013.09,
consulted 9/1991, Carter, A./RCHME, 1:2500 AP transcription for SX 2475,
consulted 9/1991, Cornwall SMR entry for PRN 1013,
consulted 9/1991, Cornwall SMR entry for PRN 1013.12,

Source: Historic England