Bodmin Moor

Showery Tor is a rocky outcrop on a ridge-top approximately 0.6 kilometres (0.37 mi) north of the Rough Tor summit, near Camelford on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall. It is notable for its rock formations and prehistoric monuments.[1][2] The Tor is a prominent landmark for a wide area. It consists of a natural outcrop enveloped by a giant man-made ring cairn and was thought to have been a religious focal point.[3] Craig Weatherhill in "Cornovia: Ancient Sites of Cornwall & Scilly" calls it "A natural formation of weathered granite, 5 metres (16 ft) high ...is surrounded by a massive ring cairn of piled stone 30 metres (98 ft) in diameter and up to 1.2 metres (3.9 ft) high. The natural formation was evidently intended as a focal point. No excavations have been recorded at this site, so it is not known how many, if any, burials were associated with this presumably Neolithic or Bronze Age site"[4] Christopher Tilley has estimated the height of the cairn on which the outcrop stands to be 3 metres (9.8 ft).[5] The granite outcrop is reminiscent of the Cheesewring and made of individual blocks on underlying outcrops formed by erosion along horizontal fractures in the granitic mass. Aerial photography has revealed more about the layout of the structures on Showery Tor and it stands out as the only natural formation to have been used in this way by the cairn designers.

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