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Monument record MDR1268 - Ringham Low chambered cairn, south-west of Organ Ground Farm, Over Haddon

Type and Period (4)

Protected Status/Designation

  • None recorded

Full Description

[SK 1695 6642] TUMULUS (Human Remains, Cist etc. found). (5). TUMULUS. (11). Ringham Low, about 650 yards east of Rick low Dale and 450 yards to the north of Lathkilldale (8), " (it) seems, if Bateman's schematic plan can be trusted, to have been a long cairn" with possible vestigial 'horns' or a crescentic façade and five chambers (10) Phillips would regard the elongated form of the cairn as the result of accumulations round an original round cairn with chamber. (7,8,10) The cairn is a low plateau of fragmented limestone and has evidently been much reduced and disturbed. It appears to have been originally heart-shaped, and there is no physical suggestion that it developed from a round cairn. Along its west and south sides is an irregular trench, probably the result of early excavation. Published survey (25") revised. (13) Oval cairn discovered by T Bateman, but 40 years after the various chambers had been destroyed. Jewitt's illustration shows five chambers within a horned cairn. The chambers were excavated and yielded human remains, at least 20 individuals, with various grave goods such as flint and animal remains and five leaf-shaped arrowheads, two in one chamber, three in another. (16) Not visited in 1988 - permission refused. Site mutilated, southern half in a plantation. Discrepancies over dimensions - Bateman 45½m (50 yards) by 27½m (30 yards); Jewitt 46½m (153 ft) by 32m (106 ft); Hart 56 by 34m. The site was clearly damaged prior to Bateman's first visit hence the status of its shape and horns is open to question. In 1847 Bateman cleared out one large chamber. The cist within this chamber measures 3.6 by 1.2 to 1.5m, which had one inhumation on the pavement with a small flint and a cows tooth. Two further chambers or cists had no finds. In 1855, three cists were emptied. One large closed cist measured 2.6 by 1.2m and was 0.45m deep. The contents were either disturbed or disarticulated and comprised at least 10 adults and two infants, a leaf arrowhead, ox skull fragments and horse and dog teeth. Two further leaf arrowheads are illustrated as coming from here. Near the mound edge was a double cist or chamber with passage to the east. The western compartment was disturbed but contained remains of two inhumations and two leaf shaped arrowheads. I t measured 2.55m by 0.9m and was 1.2m high. The east compartment contained four disturbed inhumations and a bone pin. It measured 1.5m by 0.8 to 1.2m and was 0.6m high. A further closed cist on the other side of the mound measured 2.75 by 0.75 to 1.70m and was 1.2m high. It contained a few human bones and a worked stone. All the cists/chambers were set out on the old land surface in foundation trenches. (20) Ringlow Low chambered tomb was built in the earlier Neolithic (c.6000-5000 years ago). The mound contained four cists or chambers built of large limestone slabs. It was originally vaguely oval in shape and with a shallow crescentric forecourt. Various sections have been ploughed down and there is a deep robber trench dug around the south and east sides. Originally the mound was c.56m by 34m. Ringham Low was excavated by Bateman twice in 1847 and in 1855. The first cist (A) contained an old, male skeleton, a flint knife and a cow tooth. Cist B contained 12 individuals (two children, ten adults) with flint arrowheads and animal bones. A double chambered cist contained the skeletons of four people and a small bone pin in the eastern end (cist C) and two skeletons with two flint leaf-shaped arrowheads in the western chamber (D). Cist E contained only a few human bones. (21)

Sources/Archives (22)

  • <1> Bibliographic reference: Bateman, T. 1848. Vestiges of the Antiquities of Derbyshire. p103.
  • <2> Bibliographic reference: Bateman, T. 1861. Ten Years' Diggings in Celtic and Saxon Grave Hills. p94.
  • <3> Bibliographic reference: Bateman, T. n.d.. Illustrations of Antiquity.
  • <4> Unpublished document: Bateman, T. Descriptions of, and Observations on, Further Discoveries in the Barrows of Derbyshire.
  • <5> Map: Ordnance Survey (OS). 1923. 6".
  • <6> Map: Crawford, O G S and Phillps, C W. 1933. Map of the Trent Basin.
  • <7> Bibliographic reference: Daniel, G E. 1950. Prehistoric Chambered Tombs of England and Wales. p183.
  • <8> Article in serial: Alcock, L. 1952. 'Ringham Low: the rediscovery of a Derbyshire chambered tomb', Antiquity. Volume 26, No.101. pp 41-42.
  • <9> Article in serial: 1953. Antiquity Vol.27 (?). 41.
  • <10> Bibliographic reference: Piggott, S. 1954. Neolithic Cultures of the British Isles. p267.
  • <11> Map: Ordnance Survey (OS). 1955. 6".
  • <12> Article in serial: Manby, T. 1958. 'Chambered tombs of Derbyshire', Derbyshire Archaeological Journal. Volume 78, pp 25-39. pp 25-39.
  • <13> Personal Observation: F1 BHS 11-MAR-66.
  • <14> Bibliographic reference: Marsden, B. 1977. The Burial Mounds of Derbyshire. p2.
  • <15> Bibliographic reference: Hawke-Smith, C F. 1979. 'Man-Land Relations in British Prehistory: The Dove-Derwent Interfluve, Derbyshire', British Archaeological Report. Series 64 (170). p171.
  • <16> Index: OS. SK 16 NE 7. SK 16 NE 7.
  • <17> Index: NDAT. 1617. 1617.
  • <18> Index: North Derbyshire Archaeological Committee (NDAC). North Derbyshire Archaeological Committee Index. 1676-8.
  • <19> Bibliographic reference: Hart, C. 1986. Searches for the Early Neolithic; A Study of Peakland Long Cairns.
  • <20> Unpublished document: Barnatt, J. 1989. The Peak District Barrow Survey (updated 1994). Site 8:2.
  • <21> Unpublished document: Taylor, H (PDNPA). 1998. Organ Ground Farm, Monyash and Over Haddon, Derbyshire, archaeological survey, 1998. No.1, p12.
  • <22> Photograph: Peak District National Park Authority (PDNPA). Slide Collection. 11419.1-2.

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Grid reference Centred SK 1694 6642 (48m by 53m) (Centre)
Civil Parish OVER HADDON, DERBYSHIRE DALES, DERBYSHIRE

Related Monuments/Buildings (0)

Related Events/Activities (3)

  • EDR4092
  • EDR999
  • EDR604

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Record last edited

Aug 27 2015 2:26PM

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