Scheduled Monument: MONEYSTONES BOWL BARROW NORTH (1010949)

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 it has been somewhat mutilated, disturbance to the northern barrow at Moneystones is largely restricted to the surface of the cairn and the centre line. A significant area, including the rim of the monument, survives intact as does most of the old land surface where further burials will have been placed. DETAILS The northernmost bowl barrow at Moneystones is a sub-circular cairn and is located on the western upland ridges of the limestone plateau of Derbyshire. The monument includes a mound measuring 26m by 24m surviving to a height of c.1m. It is associated with a second barrow which lies c.120m to the southeast. The cairn has been heavily disturbed along a line from north-west to south-east where stone has been taken to build the dry stone wall that passes through the centre of monument. This is an old disturbance which dates to the time of the Enclosure Acts in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Partial excavation of the disturbed areas by Thomas Bateman in 1848 located scattered and broken human bone and flint artefacts which date the monument to the Bronze Age. The wall crossing the mound is excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath it is included. SELECTED SOURCES Book Reference - Author: Barnatt, J. - Title: The Peak District Barrow Survey - Type: DESC TEXT Book Reference - Author: Barnatt, J. - Title: The Peak District Barrow Survey - Type: PLAN: MEASURED Book Reference - Author: Bateman, Thomas - Title: Ten Years Diggings in Celtic and Saxon Grave-Hills (1861) - Date: 1861 - Page References: 40 - Type: DESC TEXT Book Reference - Author: Marsden B - Title: The Burial Mounds of Derbyshire (1977) - Date: 1977 - Page References: 49 - Type: DESC TEXT