Rodknoll fancy barrow

Reasons for Designation

Saucer barrows are funerary monuments of the Early Bronze Age, most examples dating to between 1800 and l200 BC. They occur either in isolation or in barrow cemeteries (closely-spaced groups of round barrows). They were constructed as a circular area of level ground defined by a bank and internal ditch and largely occupied by a single low, squat mound covering one or more burials, usually in a pit. The burials, either inhumations or cremations, are sometimes accompanied by pottery vessels, tools and personal ornaments. Saucer barrows are one of the rarest recognised forms of round barrow, with about 60 known examples nationally, most of which are in Wessex. The presence of grave goods within the barrows provides important evidence for chronological and cultural links amongst prehistoric communities over a wide area of southern England as well as providing an insight into their beliefs and social organisation. As a rare and fragile form of round barrow, all identified saucer barrows would normally be considered to be of national importance.

With its sub-rectangular banks and opposing entrances, Rodknoll fancy barrow is an unusual example and, together with Hob Hurst's House, illustrates the high degree of regional variation associated with this class of monument. Although somewhat disturbed by partial excavation, its architectural features survive well and it will retain further significant archaeological remains.

Details

Rodknoll fancy barrow is situated on Brampton East Moor in the eastern gritstone moorlands of Derbyshire. The monument is a form of saucer barrow comprising a squat bowl-shaped mound enclosed by a ditch and an external bank. Although the mound is roughly circular, the enclosure defined by the outer bank is sub-rectangular and measures, to the outside of the banks, 22.5m by 21m. Although disturbed by excavation, the mound appears originally to have been c.0.75m high and the ditch is c.2m wide and 1m deep. The bank is 2m wide and c.0.5m high and, unusually, there are roughly opposing entrances through the bank and ditch on the north and south sides of the monument. The barrow was partially excavated by Court in 1940 and by the Chesterfield Archaeological Group in 1953. Their findings were not published and so a precise date cannot be assigned to the barrow. However, its close similarity to nearby Hob Hurst's House indicates that it was constructed in the Bronze Age.

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.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

23256

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Barnatt, J, The Peak District Barrow Survey (1989), (1989)
Barnatt, J, The Peak District Barrow Survey (1989), (1989)
Marsden, B M, The Burial Mounds of Derbyshire , (1977), 24
Barnatt, J W, Derbyshire Archaeological Journal in Bronze Age Remains on the East Moors of the Peak District, Vol. 106, (1986), 18-100

End of official list entry

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