Parsley Hay bowl barrow

Reasons for Designation

Bowl barrows, the most numerous form of round barrow, are funerary monuments dating from the Late Neolithic period to the Late Bronze Age, with most examples belonging to the period 2400-1500 BC. They were constructed as earthen or rubble mounds, sometimes ditched, which covered single or multiple burials. They occur either in isolation or grouped as cemeteries and often acted as a focus for burials in later periods. Often superficially similar, although differing widely in size, they exhibit regional variations in form and a diversity of burial practices. There are over 10,000 surviving bowl barrows recorded nationally (many more have already been destroyed), occurring across most of lowland Britain. Often occupying prominent locations, they are a major historic element in the modern landscape and their considerable variation of form and longevity as a monument type provide important information on the diversity of beliefs and social organisations amongst early prehistoric communities. They are particularly representative of their period and a substantial proportion of surviving examples are considered worthy of protection.

The bowl barrow at Parsley Hay, with its attached satellite mounds, is an unusual example which illustrates well the diversity of form of this class of monument.

Details

Parsley Hay bowl barrow is a sub-circular cairn located in the western upland ridges of the limestone plateau of Derbyshire. In addition to the main mound of the barrow the monument includes two smaller mounds which extend from the south-western and south-eastern edges. The former measures 8m by 6.5m by 0.5m high while the latter, which is roughly circular, has a diameter of 9.5m and also stands 0.5m high. The larger mound comprises a sloping platform which contains a kerb of limestone blocks set in a circle of diameter 16.5m which itself encircles a steeper-sided inner mound with a diameter of 11m. The overall dimensions of the larger mound are 25m by 22.5m by 1.5m high. The main mound was partially excavated by Bateman in 1848 and a central grave pit found cut into the rock beneath the old land surface. This contained a crouched or sitting skeleton accompanied by flint artefacts and fragments of a beaker by which the barrow was dated to the early Bronze Age. Overlying the grave pit were flat slabs of limestone on which a second crouched inhumation was found accompanied by a granite axehead and a bronze dagger.

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:

13312

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Clarke, D L, The Beaker Pottery of Great Britain and Ireland, (1970)
Barnatt, J, The Peak District Barrow Survey (1989), (1989)
Barnatt, J, The Peak District Barrow Survey (1989), (1989)
Bateman, T, Ten Years Diggings in Celtic and Saxon Grave-Hills, (1861)
Marsden, B M, The Burial Mounds of Derbyshire , (1977)

End of official list entry

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