Monument record MDR3105 - Round Barrow (Site of), Blake Low, Bonsall

Plough-damaged barrow opened by Carrington on the 23rd March 1850, containing a disturbed central skeleton and subsequent crouched inhumation, found with a flint 'spearhead' and ?scraper. A cremation was also found, lying loose on the natural ground surface. (2,7). [SK 2545 2939] Barrow reported by C. James, Sheffield in 1958. (3). There is no barrow or any other artificial mound at the position sited by James. Furthermore, the area has been extensively damaged by surface lead mining and therefore the feature may have been confused with one of the numerous waste heaps scattered over the region. Blakelow Hill at this point reaches its maximum height by a further superficial swelling of the gently rising ground. The insertion of an Ordnance Survey triangulation pillar on the summit of this small knoll has flattened its top, and may have given rise to its misidentification. (5). Authority 2 is correct. (6). Blake Low barrow is a ploughed down mound c.20 metres in diameter and 0.6 metres high, although a triangulation pillar now exists on its summit. It is located at the crest of a prominent ridgetop with good visibility to the south. The barrow was opened by Jewitt in 1877 although this information is vague as there are two Blake Lows (SK 221602 and SK 254594), but only SK 254594 has an extant barrow. There is a third possibility on Longstone Edge [recorded in Barnatt's survey as 4:12], but Jewitt was not known to have been active in this region. During the excavation by Jewitt, a central internment was found and on one side of the barrow, a contracted inhumation on their left side was recovered. A flint dagger was found in 1768, but it is uncertain if it came from within the barrow or elsewhere on the hill. (1,4,7,9). Marsden states that the flint dagger was doubtless from within the barrow. (10). The barrow noted in Authority 2 is located in Warslow and not Bonsall, suggesting that these excavations refer to a different barrow. Four barrows called Blake Low are listed in the Appendix of Authority 2, one existing in Bonsall. This barrow was evidently not excavated by Bateman or Carrington. The barrow noted in Authority 3, reported by James refers to SMR 9612 and is not this barrow. (11).