Finally got to visit on not only a dry day, but also in early spring before the bracken and everything else had taken over this site. For the first time I could make out the whole long cairn.
Stretching away up hill from the cist/quoit? is a boat shaped area walled in by low stones, this is what I have never seen before. I can see now why it is called a long cairn.
I would still love to know if the large stones that make up the central structure were ever all erect or were they a cist that was set above the present layer of earth and have collapsed as earth has been taken away........
Just for the record, it's still raining up there! The horizontal stuff that soaks you right through...
The bracken was only just sprouting, so I had no problem in finding it, though for some reason I had some doubts until a passing(!) farmer confirmed that this was indeed what I was looking for.
I can only re-iterate Mr Hamhead's directions - it's actually a relatively easy walk up the hill, with a couple of streams to cross, but the upright stone is quite distinctive and easily spotted from below.
October is not the best time to be up on Bodmin Moor looking for sites..bracken is covering almost everything. However, at the third attempt I found the Bearah Long Cairn. If others wish to follow in my footsteps then i would advise taking the minor road from Minions to Henwood. Once in Henwood turn right and climb up beside the riding stables. As the road drops down again there is a road going off to the right. Park on the left and take the track that goes up on the left.
After going through a gate this opens out onto moorland in the bottom of a valley. Follow the track as it climbs and snakes towards Bearah Tor. After most of the bends are negotiated look out for the cairn on the right hand side. The stone that is still "upright" is half surounded by a hawthorn tree and is obscured by it if approaching down the track.
The stones sit atop a cairn that is very overgrown with bracken and i could not make out too much of what remains of the surrounding stones. The central stones, at least three large lehgnts, are laying as if fallen, the one remaining standing being at a angle of about 40 degrees.
It is only in the last 20 years that this cairn has been recognised and i am not sure if any dig has ever taken place. One wonders what form the cairn took in the past? Did all the stones stand upriight and was there a capstone, making it more of a quoit.
I will try to return when the bracken dies down and the rain that soaked me has departed.
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Posted by Mr Hamhead
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