A tor enclosure is a prehistoric monument found in the southwestern part of

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It ...

. These monuments emerged around 4000 BCE in the early

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several pa ...

. Tor enclosures are large enclosures situated near natural rock outcrops, especially tors, on hilltops or the sides of hills. They consist of one or more roughly circular stone walls built around the tor. They are comparable to the

causewayed enclosure A causewayed enclosure is a type of large prehistoric earthwork common to the early Neolithic in Europe. It is an enclosure marked out by ditches and banks, with a number of causeways crossing the ditches. More than 100 examples are recorded i ...

s found elsewhere in the British Isles and many are of similar

date although others are from later in prehistory.

Examples

The best known examples are Carn Brea in

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a Historic counties of England, historic county and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people ...

, the first to be identified, following excavations in the early 1970s, and

Helman Tor Helman Tor ( kw, Torr Helman) is a granite hill in mid Cornwall, UK with several separated tors, and is designated as a (non-statutory) County Geology Site (with similar criteria to a County Wildlife Site). The hill also has a Scheduled Ancie ...

between

Bodmin Bodmin () is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated south-west of Bodmin Moor. The extent of the civil parish corresponds fairly closely to that of the town so is mostly urban in character. It is borde ...

and

Lostwithiel Lostwithiel (; kw, Lostwydhyel) is a civil parishes in England, civil parish and small town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom at the head of the estuary of the River Fowey. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 2,739, increas ...

in the same county. Other possible examples are: *

Rough Tor Rough Tor (), or Roughtor, is a tor on Bodmin Moor, Cornwall, United Kingdom. The site is composed of the tor summit and logan stone, a neolithic tor enclosure, a large number of Bronze Age hut circles, and some contemporary monuments. T ...

Bodmin Moor Bodmin Moor ( kw, Goon Brenn) is a granite moorland in north-eastern Cornwall, England. It is in size, and dates from the Carboniferous period of geological history. It includes Brown Willy, the highest point in Cornwall, and Rough Tor, a sl ...

Stowe's Hill Stowe's Hill is an elongated hill, high, located on the eastern edge of Bodmin Moor in the county of Cornwall, England. Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 ''Explorer'' map series, No. 109 Stowe's Hill is a prominent granite ridge located about 1500 me ...

, also on Bodmin Moor * Whittor on

Dartmoor Dartmoor is an upland area in southern Devon, England. The moorland and surrounding land has been protected by National Park status since 1951. Dartmoor National Park covers . The granite which forms the uplands dates from the Carboniferous P ...

References

Types of monuments and memorials Stone Age Britain {{UK-archaeology-stub

Examples

See also

References