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Monument record MDR2036 - High Field Hlaew, Saxon barrow on Lapwing Hill, Brushfield

Type and Period (3)

  • (Saxon - 410 AD to 1065 AD)
  • (Saxon - 410 AD to 1065 AD)
  • (Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age - 3000 BC? to 1501 BC?)

Protected Status/Designation

Full Description

A barrow, seventeen yards across and four feet high, upon Lapwing Hill, near Brushfield, overlooking Cressbrook valley was opened on the 3rd August 1850, and found to cover a rock-cut grave containing an extended burial with a Saxon sword, an iron knife and two small javelin heads. (1). [SK 16867235] TUMULUS (Human Remains, sword & C. found). (5). TUMULUS. (6). Published survey 1/2500 revised, maximum height 1.3m. (8). The burial was wrapped in hide. Iron staples and hoops were interpreted as coffin fittings, but have been reinterpreted as the remains of a bed. (12) The monument includes a sub-circular barrow 17 x 14.5 x 1 m but it would have been more circular before ploughing had altered the profile. Under the earthen barrow in a central rock-cut grave was a male extended inhumation laid on animal hides upon a coffin / bed/ bier. To the left was an iron sword with a sheath of thin wood covered in decorated leather. A short iron knife lay under the hilt of the sword. Above the right shoulder of the body were two iron spear points. Among the stones filling the grave, about 1ft off the bottom, were many iron objects including clenched nails (the fittings of the coffin / bed/ bier). Typologically the burial dates to c. AD600. (13) Round barrow measuring 14½ to 17 metres in diameter and 1 metre high. Situated on the crest of a ridge with good visibility in all directions. Excavated in the 19th century when a burial in hides and a wooden coffin accompanied by Anglian objects was found. Most of the barrow was left unexcavated and it therefore could be a later Neolithic to early Bronze Ag barrow with an Anglian insertion. (14). Site monitoring has been carried out. See record for details. (15)

Sources/Archives (15)

  • <1> Bibliographic reference: Bateman, T. 1861. Ten Years' Diggings in Celtic and Saxon Grave Hills. pp 68-70.
  • <2> Article in serial: Lucas, F J. 1867-8. 'Notice on the opening of a barrow on Grey Cap Hill, Cressbrook, Oct. 15, 1867', The Reliquary. Volume 8, pp 177-178.
  • <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 Unpublished document: Bateman, T. Descriptions of, and Observations on, Further Discoveries in the Barrows of Derbyshire.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: Ordnance Survey (OS). 1955. 6".
  • <7> Bibliographic reference: Meaney, A. 1964. A Gazetteer of Early Anglo-Saxon Burial Sites.
  • <8> Personal Observation: F1 JB 15-DEC-65.
  • <9> Bibliographic reference: Marsden, B. 1977. The Burial Mounds of Derbyshire. p 65.
  • <10> Index: NDAT. 0511. 0511.
  • <11> Unpublished document: Barnatt, J. 1989. The Peak District Barrow Survey (updated 1994). Site 5:10.
  • <12> Bibliographic reference: Speake, G. 1989. A Saxon Bed Burial on Swallowcliffe Down (English Heritage Arch. Rep. 10).
  • <13> Scheduling record: English Heritage. 1993. Scheduling Notification:. Cat. No.: 195.
  • <14> Unpublished document: Bevan, B (PDNPA). 1994. Brushfield Hough, Brushfield, Great Longstone, Ashford, Taddington and Sheldon Parishes, Derbyshire, Archaeological Survey, 1994. No. 23, pp 14-15.
  • <15> Unpublished document: Wheal, S (PDNPA). 2010. Scheduled Monument Monitoring Form: High Field Hlaew.

Map

Location

Grid reference Centred SK 1686 7235 (20m by 20m) (Centre)
Civil Parish BRUSHFIELD, DERBYSHIRE DALES, DERBYSHIRE

Related Monuments/Buildings (0)

Related Events/Activities (3)

  • EDR576
  • EDR3178
  • EDR1100

Please contact the HER for details.

External Links (0)

Record last edited

Nov 7 2014 4:34PM

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