Details

The monument comprises a large Prehistoric round cairn, one of a dispersed
group of twelve cairns, situated near 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 well-consolidated heaped rubble,
11m in diameter and up to 0.9m high, forming an inverted bowl shape with a
slightly flattened top. Occasional edge-set stones up to 0.2m high are
visible through the turf around the perimeter of the cairn, forming the
remains of a low kerb. Stone robbers have disturbed the top of the mound,
leaving a hollow measuring 4m east-west by 2m wide and a maximum 0.4m deep.
This cairn is centred 57m ENE of a Neolithic long cairn and 87m ESE of a large
platform 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. 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 substantially intact
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)
Other
consulted 9/1991, Carter, A./RCHME, 1:2500 AP transcriptions for SX 2475 & 2575,
consulted 9/1991, Cornwall SMR entry for PRN 1013.02,
consulted 9/1991, Cornwall SMR entry for PRN 1014,
consulted 9/1991, Cornwall SMR entry for PRN 1173,

Source: Historic England