Monument record MDR2880 - Round barrow, Blackstone's Low, Ballidon Moor, Ballidon
Type and Period (5)
- 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)
- CINERARY URN (Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 701 BC)
- CIST (Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 701 BC)
Protected Status/Designation
Full Description
"A fine bowl shaped tumulus". Presumably this is the barrow on Ballidon Moor excavated by Bateman on 30th July 1849, though the name is not used. The barrow had a primary crouched internment with a limestone cist which had a capstone. This burial was accompanied by a flint flake. Four further primary skeletons were recovered, three crouched and one either burned or defleshed, or disturbed by later use, as long bones were placed parallel to one another. A secondary collared urn was recovered in a small cist on top of the primary cist. The pot contained a cremation, a bone pin, a piece of animal jaw, and a flint arrowhead, all burnt. A stratum of burnt earth and sand above the primary cist suggests a cremation in situ. (1). Three more adjacent barrows were examined on 1st August 1849 [SMR 907, 909 and 910]. (4).
Barnatt records this barrow as either 10:27 (Blackstone's Low) or 10:59 (destroyed or lost barrow). 10:27 is a ploughed-over bowl barrow located at the highest point of an undulating ridge with a diameter of c.25 metres and a height of 1½ metres. The barrow Bateman dug was 13.7 metres across which does not tally with the dimensions of 10:27, suggesting that the excavations undertaken by Bateman may not have been at Blackstone's Low. Barnatt concludes that Bateman's excavations in 1849 have previously been ascribed to Blackstone's Low but they were did not certainly occur at this location. (5).
Blackstone's Low bowl barrow was made a scheduled monument on the 13th January 1970. It is a sub-circular cairn situated on Ballidon Moor in the south-eastern uplands of the limestone plateau of Derbyshire. The monument includes a well-preserved mound measuring 23m by 20m and standing c.1.8 metres high. This was partially excavated by Thomas Bateman in 1849 and found to contain human remains and artefacts dateable to the Bronze Age. These included a limestone cist containing a crouched skeleton accompanied by a flint implement, three more crouched skeletons outside the cist and a fifth skeleton which had been either burned or defleshed since the long bones had been laid parallel to one another whilst still fresh. On the capstone of the limestone cist was another smaller cist which held a collared urn containing a cremation and the burnt remains of a bone pin, flint arrowhead and fine pot-sherd. A layer of burnt earth and sand was also found above the limestone cist and contained calcined human bones which included those of an infant. This indicates that a cremation had taken place on the barrow. The urned cremation was inserted at a later date than the other burials and demonstrates that the barrow was in use over an extended period of time. The fragments of another urn were found near the top of the mound along with calcined bone from another secondary cremation. (6).
This barrow is recorded to be in the vicinity of SMR 907, 909 and 910, all located on Ballidon Moor. However, as the precise locations of this barrow and the three other barrows are unknown, SMR 906 has been plotted in Blackstone's Low barrow on the map. (7).
Site monitoring has been carried out. See report for further details . (8)
Sources/Archives (9)
- --- SDR20103 Scheduling record: English Heritage. 1970. Scheduling Notification: Blackstones Low Bowl Barrow. Cat. No.: 197.
- <1> SDR16985 Bibliographic reference: Bateman, T. 1861. Ten Years' Diggings in Celtic and Saxon Grave Hills. pp 57-61.
- <2> SDR4460 Bibliographic reference: Davis, J B and Thurnam, J T. 1865. Crania Brittanica. Pl.1 No.17.
- <3> SDR8643 Bibliographic reference: Marsden, B. 1977. The Burial Mounds of Derbyshire. p13.
- <4> SDR9481 Index: NDAT. 0162. 0162.
- <5> SDR2466 Unpublished document: Barnatt, J. 1989. The Peak District Barrow Survey (updated 1994).
- <6> SDR20103 Scheduling record: English Heritage. 1970. Scheduling Notification: Blackstones Low Bowl Barrow. Cat. No.: 197.
- <7> SDR20034 Personal Observation: Thornton, A. Personal observation, map evidence, field visit etc..
- <8> SDR22183 Unpublished document: Brown, R (PDNPA). 2010. Scheduled Monument Monitoring Form: Blackstones Low Bowl Barrow.
Map
Location
| Grid reference | Centred SK 2103 5541 (25m by 25m) (Approximate) |
|---|---|
| Civil Parish | BALLIDON, DERBYSHIRE DALES, DERBYSHIRE |
Related Monuments/Buildings (0)
Related Events/Activities (2)
- EDR3153
- EDR3154
Please contact the HER for details.
External Links (0)
Record last edited
Nov 6 2014 12:27PM