Bowl barrow on Haddon Fields

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 this bowl barrow on Haddon Fields has been disturbed by ploughing and partial excavation, much of the barrow is still intact and contains significant archaeological remains.

Details

Haddon Fields is located on the eastern shelves south of Wye Dale on the limestone plateau of Derbyshire. The monument includes the northernmost of two bowl barrows on Haddon Fields and is a sub-circular mound measuring 20.5m by 13m by c.0.6m high. Formerly, the barrow would have been somewhat higher and more uniformly round. However, it has been ploughed over in the past which has caused some distortion of the original form. It may have been the barrow on Haddon Fields partially excavated by Thomas Bateman in 1860 in which was found a contracted skeleton on a bed of charred wood accompanied by a flint arrowhead, a bone spatula and a bronze awl. This, however, has not been confirmed and it is the location and appearance of the barrow, and its proximity to others of the same kind, which date it to 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:

13361

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Clarke, D L, The Beaker Pottery of Great Britain and Ireland, (1970)
Abercromby, J, Bronze Age Pottery of the British Isles, (1912)
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)
Fowler, M, Derbyshire Archaeological Journal in The Transition From Late Neolithic To Early Br A In The Pk Dist of Derbys, (1955)

End of official list entry

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