Monument record MDR1439 - Lean Low Bowl Barrow, Hartington Town Quarter
Type and Period (4)
- INHUMATION (Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 701 BC)
- BOWL BARROW (Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 701 BC)
- CREMATION (Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 701 BC)
- CIST (Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 701 BC)
Protected Status/Designation
Full Description
Bateman excavated this barrow on the 17th June 1843, when he dug a trench on south side to the centre, two feet [0.6 metres] from the centre. He located a flexed inhumation, its head (to the south-west), had been protected on either side by a large stone, with a third stone placed across them. Two horse teeth were found in the mound. (1,2). Lean Low is an irregular stone cairn, excavated on as many as four occasions. (2,3,9). Bateman's re-excavation of the barrow on the 23rd February 1847, on the north side, located a cist containing a food vessel surrounded by a cremation. Within the pot were unburnt animal bone and a flint knife. One foot [0.3 metres] deeper than the cist, Bateman located a contracted inhumation, a young adult, placed on the rock. (3,12,13).
SK 1496 6223. (6). A substantial, but badly mutilated, stony barrow with unsurveyable evidence of a ditch. Resurveyed at 1/2500. (7).
A case has been made for the linkage of a Beaker hybrid, a flint knife, two cores and two flakes, (in the British Museum Lucas collection), with Lean Low. The finds are the product of an unpublished excavation by John Fossick Lucas in the 1860's. Marsden's excavation between July and September in 1972 located a disarticulated part inhumation on the old ground surface. Elsewhere in the trenches were scattered human bones, a barbed and tanged arrowhead, a large flaked knife, a utilised flake, a biconical jet bead, five flint flakes, animal bones and a human cremation. (9).
The mound is scarred by a quarry on the northern side, an un backfilled excavation trench (Lucas 1860's) to the north-east, and Marsden's imperfectly backfilled trenches at the centre. Marsden demonstrated that the mound uses a natural knoll and there is only 0.45 to 0.75 metres of mound material. He may well have interpreted some earlier scars as signs of Bateman's trenches, the former being stone robbing, while the latter being backfilled carefully and not visible today. The northern quarry may well predate 1843. (12,13).
Lean Low bowl barrow became a scheduled monument on the 16th June 1970. It 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 17 metres by 15 metres with an apparent height of c. one and a half metres. 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 0.75 metres. 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. (16).
Sources/Archives (16)
- <1> SDR2893 Unpublished document: Bateman, T. 1843. 'A Description of Tumuli Opened by Thomas Bateman Esq. of Bakewell in the summer of 1843', Collectania Antiquia. Section 17.
- <2> SDR2903 Bibliographic reference: Bateman, T. 1848. Vestiges of the Antiquities of Derbyshire. pp 35-36.
- <3> SDR2903 Bibliographic reference: Bateman, T. 1848. Vestiges of the Antiquities of Derbyshire. p102.
- <4> SDR1582 Article in serial: 1871. Archaeologia. Vol 43. p397.
- <5> SDR846 Bibliographic reference: Abercromby, J. 1912. Bronze Age Pottery of the British Isles Volume 1. Volume 1. p191.
- <6> SDR11764 Map: Ordnance Survey (OS). 1955. 6".
- <7> SDR8479 Article in serial: Manby, T. 1957. 'Food vessels of the Peak District', Derbyshire Archaeological Journal. Volume 77, pp 1-29. p18.
- <8> SDR6315 Personal Observation: 1966. F1 FRH.
- <9> SDR8707 Article in serial: Marsden, B. 1976. 'The excavation of the Snels Low and Lean Low round cairns', Derbyshire Archaeological Journal. Vol. 96. pp 9-14.
- <10> SDR8643 Bibliographic reference: Marsden, B. 1977. The Burial Mounds of Derbyshire. pp 49-50.
- <11> SDR10514 Index: North Derbyshire Archaeological Trust (NDAT). North Derbyshire Archaeological Trust Index: 1130. 1130.
- <12> SDR2466 Unpublished document: Barnatt, J. 1989. The Peak District Barrow Survey (updated 1994). Site 7.25.
- <13> SDR10811 Index: North Derbyshire Archaeological Committee (NDAC). North Derbyshire Archaeological Committee Index. 1977: 1130.
- <14> SDR18971 Photograph: Peak District National Park Authority (PDNPA). Slide Collection. 7017.1-3.
- <15> SDR18970 Photograph: Peak District National Park Authority (PDNPA). Black and white photograph collection. 409.30A-31A.
- <16> SDR20188 Scheduling record: English Heritage. 1970. Scheduling Notification: Lean Low Bowl Barrow. Cat. No.: 201.
Map
Location
| Grid reference | Centred SK 1495 6222 (14m by 14m) (Centre) |
|---|---|
| Civil Parish | HARTINGTON TOWN QUARTER, DERBYSHIRE DALES, DERBYSHIRE |
Related Monuments/Buildings (0)
Related Events/Activities (9)
- EDR141
- EDR251
- EDR265
- EDR352
- EDR73
- EDR92
- EDR3666
- EDR1175
- EDR328
Please contact the HER for details.
External Links (0)
Record last edited
Feb 10 2015 9:02AM