Wyaston hlaew
Overview
Heritage Category: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number: 1009099
Date first listed: 12-Nov-1962
Date of most recent amendment: 27-Jan-1993
Map
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Location
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
County: Derbyshire
District: Derbyshire Dales (District Authority)
Parish: Edlaston and Wyaston
National Grid Reference: SK 19110 42013
Reasons for Designation
Hlaews are pre-Christian burial monuments of Anglo-Saxon or Viking date and may be found singly or in small groups. Typically they are constructed of earth and usually comprise a low hemispherical mound or a combination of mound, inner ditch and outer bank covering one or more burials which may be inhumations, cremations or both. Most hlaews contain rich grave-goods, indicating the high status of the occupants, and these goods date Anglian hlaews to the late sixth and seventh centuries AD and Viking hlaews to the ninth century. There are only between fifty and sixty authenticated hlaews recorded nationally, with particular concentrations in the Peak District and Wiltshire. They are one of a restricted range of monuments from the Anglian and Viking periods and contain evidence not only of burial customs and craft skills but also of colonisation and settlement patterns. Because of this, and due to their extreme rarity, all surviving hlaews are considered to be of national importance. Although disturbed by ploughing and partial excavation, Wyaston hlaew is reasonably well preserved and retains significant archaeological remains.
Details
Wyaston hlaew, or Anglian barrow, is situated on the southern fringes of the
Derbyshire Peak District. The monument includes a bowl-shaped mound
measuring 27m by 22.5m and surviving to a height of c.0.75m. Originally, the
barrow was more uniformly circular and somewhat higher; but ploughing has
lowered its profile and distorted its shape. In 1852, Samuel Carrington
carried out a partial excavation of the site and recovered human teeth, which
were all that survived of a skeleton, accompanied by a necklace of
twenty-seven beads, a finger ring of knotted silver wire, silver earrings and
a circular brooch. Five of the beads of the necklace were amber while the rest
were red or white porcelain variegated with blue, red and yellow. The
artefacts indicate that the barrow was constructed during the seventh century
AD and that the occupant was probably female.
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: 13373
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)
Bateman, T, Ten Years Diggings in Celtic and Saxon Grave-Hills, (1861), 188-9
Marsden, B M, The Burial Mounds of Derbyshire , (1977), 33-4
Meaney, A L S, Gazetteer of Early Anglo-Saxon Burial Sites, (1964)
Fowler, M J, 'Derbyshire Archaeological Journal' in The Anglian Settlement of the Derbys-Staffs. Peak District, , Vol. 74, (1954), 134-51
Ozanne, A, 'Medieval Archaeology' in The Peak Dwellers, , Vol. 6/7, (1962), 15-52
Legal
This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.
End of official listing