Lean Low 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.

Although partially disturbed by quarrying and excavation, Lean Low bowl barrow is still a reasonably well-preserved example containing further significant archaeological remains.

Details

Lean Low bowl barrow is a sub-circular cairn which utilises a natural knoll on the western upland ridges of the limestone plateau of Derbyshire. The monument includes a mound measuring 17m by 15m with an apparent height of c.1.5m. Partial excavation carried out by Marsden in 1972, however, has shown that the actual height of the mound, above the old surface of the knoll, is between 0.45 and 0.75m. The mound has suffered slight disturbance in the past caused by stone robbing and quarrying. Marsden's excavation located a burial west of centre of the mound lying on the old land surface. Elsewhere he found scattered human and animal bones and flint implements, including a barbed and tanged arrowhead, a jet bead and a human cremation. Previous partial excavations carried out by Bateman in 1843 and 1847 uncovered a crouched skeleton on the old land surface, an extended burial higher in the mound and a cist containing a human cremation and a food vessel. The burials on the old land surface may have been earlier than those placed higher in the mound, suggesting the monument was utilised over a long period of time throughout the Bronze Age. Excluded from the scheduling are the walls crossing the monument and the Ordnance Survey trig point on the northern edge. The ground beneath these features is, however, included.

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:

13305

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, Vestiges of the Antiquities of Derbyshire, (1849), 35-6
Marsden, B M, The Burial Mounds of Derbyshire , (1977), 49-50
Manby, T G, Derbyshire Archaeological Journal in Food Vessels of the Peak District (1957), Vol. 77, (1957), 1-29

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