Harrod Low long barrow

Reasons for Designation

Long barrows were constructed as earthen or drystone mounds with flanking ditches and acted as funerary monuments during the Early and Middle Neolithic periods (3400-2400 BC). They represent the burial places of Britain's early farming communities and, as such, are amongst the oldest field monuments surviving visibly in the present landscape. Where investigated, long barrows appear to have been used for communal burial, often with only parts of the human remains having been selected for interment. Certain sites provide evidence for several phases of funerary monument preceding the barrow and, consequently, it is probable that long barrows acted as important ritual sites for local communities over a considerable period of time. Some 500 long barrows are recorded in England. As one of the few types of Neolithic structure to survive as earthworks, and due to their comparative rarity, their considerable age and their longevity as a monument type, all long barrows are considered to be nationally important.

Although Harrod Low long barrow has been slightly disturbed by past agricultural practices, the archaeological remains survive largely intact.

Details

The monument is situated in the north-west uplands of the limestone plateau of Derbyshire and is a long barrow which includes a straight-sided linear mound measuring 42m from east to west by 18m from north to south. At its east end it is c.1m high and, at its west end, c.0.5m high. The east end of the barrow has been truncated by ploughing and faint plough ridges can be seen running north to south, most clearly near the western end of the barrow. There has been no recorded excavation of the site though Bray, writing in 1775, records that human bones were found there in the 18th century. The form and location of the monument, below the crest of a hill, date it to the Neolithic period.

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:

23266

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)
Bray, W, Sketch of a Tour into Derbyshire and Yorkshire, (1775), 239
Hart, C R, Searches for the E Neolithic: A Study Of Peakland Long Cairns, (1986)
Marsden, B M, The Burial Mounds of Derbyshire , (1977), 1
Addy, S O, Derbyshire Archaeological Journal in The Names of the Derbyshire and Staffordshire Barrows, Vol. 30, (1908), 123-4

End of official list entry

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