Details

The monument includes a prehistoric platform cairn 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, 22m in diameter and up to 0.4m high. The surface of the
platform bears various irregular hollows up to 0.2m deep due to relatively
recent stone-robbing for a modern ditched hedgebank which runs NNE-SSW across
the extreme eastern periphery of the cairn's platform.
This monument is situated near two other broadly contemporary cairns located
28m to the SSW and 130m to the south-east 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
some limited disturbance by recent stone-robbing from the surface of the
central mound and the modern hedgebank which clips the platform's extreme
eastern periphery. Most of the cairn's platform, internal deposits and its
extensive buried land surface will survive substantially intact. 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 1258.1,

Source: Historic England