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Stowes Pound
Linkinhorne |
Caradon
NGR: SX 25780 72470 |
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Stowe’s Pound is sited atop a prominent granite ridge to the north
of Minions village in the south-eastern sector of Bodmin Moor. The
hill itself is perhaps best known as the site of the Cheesewring,
famous in folklore, and of Cheesewring Quarry, which has taken a
massive bite out of the hill’s southern tip. The hill is sited at
the edge of the moorland, overlooking Rillaton Moor and Witheybrook
Marsh, to the south and west, and the upper reaches of the River
Lynher to the east; the tors of Dartmoor can be seen on the distant
skyline.
Two massive stone-walled enclosures encircle the summit of the
ridge, a small tear-drop shaped primary enclosure, encircling the
tors at the southern end of the hill, and a larger subsidiary
enclosure which encloses the large whale-backed summit ridge of the
hill. These enclosures are similar in many ways to the excavated tor
enclosures at
Carn Brea and
Helman Tor, which are dated to the early
Neolithic period (4000 – 3500 BC).
Though very ruinous, the ramparts of the smaller enclosure still
stand in places up to 5 metres in height and are between 5 and 15
metres wide. It must once have been a very imposing structure. The
larger enclosure, though clearly secondary, might still be
contemporary with the other. Its ramparts are noticeably slighter
and vary between 5 and 10 metres in width. It has two clearly
identifiable entrances on the west and east sides and several other
smaller gaps and later stone quarries along the walling in between.
There are traces of at least two roughly concentric outer
ramparts, best seen on the north-eastern side, and other outworks
flank the hill slopes. Curiously, there are no identifiable entrances
through the walls of the small enclosure, and no gate or passage
providing a link between the interiors of the two enclosures.
Within the large enclosure are over 100 small stone-free platforms
levelled into the slopes of the summit and interpreted as the
stances for wooden round houses. They cluster around the two
entranceways and the southern parts of the enclosure, and are
thought to be contemporary with the initial construction and
occupation of the site. There are also two flat topped cairns with
stone kerbs, one of which, it is said, incorporated a cist which
contained a Trevisker pottery urn with 100 flint spearheads,
arrowheads and a dagger. This story cannot now be confirmed, but it
would make a very unusual find in Cornwall.
Whilst there has been no recent detailed excavation of the site it
seems reasonable to place it in the same category as the other tor enclosures on the basis of its topographical situation, details of
the construction of the walling, the several narrow entranceways,
the ‘house platforms’ and the association with cairns. These
Neolithic hilltop enclosures are thought to have represented local
tribal centres or meeting places that would have been used for
ceremonial, social and commercial purposes. The cairns would
normally be assigned to the Early Bronze Age, illustrating how
monuments of this type retained a special significance over several
millennia, providing a focus for later people occupying the area. An
extensive ritual landscape extends from Stowes Hill to Craddock
Moor, encompassing stone circles, stone rows, standing stones,
barrows and cairns; this is one of the richest and best preserved
prehistoric landscapes in the country. The ridge is a prominent
skyline feature from the Hurlers, three stone circles lying 1km to
the south, and Rillaton Barrow, source of the famous ‘gold cup’ is
sited 600m further along the ridge towards Minions.
Sources
Barnatt,
J, 1982. Prehistoric Cornwall: The Ceremonial Monuments.
Turnstone Press Limited. ISBN 0 85500 129 1
Johnson, R. and Rose, P, 1994. Bodmin Moor: An Archaeological Survey.
Vol.1: The human landscape to c1800. English Heritage. ISBN 0953
3796. |
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Ground & Aerial photographs |
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