Details

The monument comprises a large Prehistoric platform cairn, one of a dispersed
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 flat-topped mound of heaped rubble, 14m in diameter
and up to 0.7m high, covered in a thick turf. The flat upper surface is 12m
in diameter, with a steep slope around its edge to the perimeter of the cairn.
The southern half of the upper surface contains a small irregular depression,
up to 0.3m deep, the result of an early stone robbing episode. This cairn is
centred 87m WNW of a large round cairn and 61m NW of a Neolithic long cairn,
the nearest two cairns in the dispersed 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. 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 Twelve Men's Moor has survived largely intact with only
minor disturbance from stone robbers. Its proximity to a Neolithic long cairn
and to broadly contemporary cairns of differing types, 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
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 1013.01,
consulted 9/1991, Cornwall SMR entry for PRN 1014,

Source: Historic England