Details

The monument includes a prehistoric platform cairn with a central mound
situated near two other broadly contemporary cairns on the summit of the
Carkeet Downs at the south-west edge of Siblyback Moor on south-east Bodmin
Moor.
The platform cairn survives with a circular raised platform of turf-covered
heaped rubble, 15.5m in diameter and up to 0.4m high. About the centre of the
platform, a distinct mound, 9m in diameter, rises to 0.8m high. The outer edge
of the mound is defined along its western half by a slight kerb of small
edge-set stones, up to 0.1m high, visible in the turf. The centre and southern
half of the central mound bears traces of an east-west trench and various
irregular hollows, up to 0.3m deep, due to relatively recent stone-robbing for
a modern ditched hedgebank which runs NNE-SSW across the eastern periphery of
the cairn's platform. A small heap of unconsolidated rubble on the mound's
southern half has been recently dumped after stone-clearance in the
neighbouring pasture.
This monument is situated near two other broadly contemporary cairns located
28m to the NNE and 125m to the ESE respectively on the broad summit of the
Carkeet Downs. This group of three cairns forms part of a sequence of
prehistoric funerary cairns, of various forms, located on successive ridge
tops bordering the western side of the upper valley of the River Fowey. In
this series, this monument is located c.600m south of a round cairn on the
next ridge to the north and c.900m north of another cairn group on the next
ridge 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. Platform cairns are funerary monuments covering single or
multiple burials and dating to the Early Bronze Age (c.2000-1600 BC). They
were constructed as low flat-topped mounds of stone rubble up to 40m in
external diameter. Some examples have other features, including peripheral
banks and internal mounds, constructed on this platform. A kerb of edge-set
stones sometimes bounds the edges of the platform, bank or mound, or all
three. Platform cairns occur as isolated monuments, in small groups, or in
cairn cemeteries. In the latter instances they are normally found alongside
cairns of other types. Although no precise figure is available, current
evidence indicates that there are under 250 known examples of this monument
class nationally. As a rare monument type exhibiting considerable variation in
form, a substantial proportion of surviving examples are considered worthy of
preservation.

This platform cairn on the Carkeet Downs has survived reasonably well despite
the limited disturbance by recent stone-robbing from the surface of the
central mound and the modern hedgebank which clips the platform's eastern
periphery. Most of the cairn's platform and much of its mound, internal
deposits and its extensive buried land surface will survive substantially
intact. The form of this cairn, with its kerbed central mound on a low
platform, is unusual. The proximity of this monument to the other cairns on
the summit of the Downs and its relationship with the various hilltop cairns
of differing forms bordering the Fowey valley demonstrates well the nature and
diversity of funerary practices during the Bronze Age.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
consulted 1993, Carter, A./Fletcher, M.J./RCHME, 1:2500 AP plot and field trace for SX 2272,
consulted 1993, Cornwall SMR entry for PRN 1258.2,

Source: Historic England