Details

The monument includes a Prehistoric round cairn with a projecting inner kerb
situated near broadly contemporary settlement sites on the south-east crest of
the Carey Tor spur, at the southern edge of East Moor on eastern Bodmin Moor.
The round cairn survives as a turf-covered, flat-topped, circular mound of
heaped rubble, 8.2m in diameter and 0.6m high. The flattened top of the mound
is defined by a circle of edge-set slabs, each up to 1m long and projecting up
to 0.4m above the mound's turf, forming a kerb 4.3m in diameter. The kerb
slabs form a circle, with breaks in the north-east and south-west sectors due
in part to subsidence. Within the kerb, the top of the cairn is almost level
and unbroken, with the upper edge of a single edge-set slab projecting
slightly through the turf towards the western side.

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 near Carey Tor has survived well; it has no visible or
recorded evidence for disturbance other than the natural subsidence of some
kerb slabs in the north-east and south-east sectors. Its projecting inner kerb
is an unusual and well preserved feature. The proximity of this cairn to
broadly contemporary settlement sites around Carey Tor demonstrates well the
nature of ritual activities and the organisation of land use during the Bronze
Age.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
Consulted 3/1992, Carter, A/RCHME, 1:2500 AP transcriptions for SX 2376 & SX 2377,
Consulted 3/1992, Cornwall SMR entry for PRN 1082,
Consulted 3/1992, Cornwall SMR entry for PRN 1083,
Consulted 3/1992, Cornwall SMR entry for PRN 1084,
consulted 3/1992, Cornwall SMR entry for PRN 1139,

Source: Historic England