Monument record MDR3156 - Round Barrow (unlocated), Middleton Moor, Middleton by Wirksworth

A barrow was discovered in May 1787 'upon the moor near Middleton by Wirksworth by a labourer getting stone for an inclosure' on land belonging to Mr Gell. At the centre there was an inhumation 'extended on the ground' with an iron 'spearhead' at the right hand. (1, 2) Bateman's first account of the Middleton Moor barrow destroyed in 1788 describes a skeleton in the centre of the barrow on the old ground surface ("upon the level of the ground") leading one to suppose this to have been primary; but, after re-excavation by William Bateman in 1826 and Thomas Bateman in 1847, the latter decided that it must have been secondary, because he found potsherds and prehistoric bone and flint tools in the mound. It is therefore not possible to decide finally whether the Middleton Moor interment was in a primary or secondary context in its barrow. (3) SK 268556. In 1787 a barrow was accidentally opened on the moor; in the centre was a perfect skeleton extended on the ground, with an iron spearhead at the right hand. The owner of the land 'subsequently discovered several other spears of the same shape, knives and a quern, or handstone, upon other parts of his property'. (4) Some authorities list the site as Anglian on the basis of Bateman's description of an iron spearhead. (3, 4) Elsewhere it has been described as a bronze round heeled rivetted dagger. (5) The barrow cannot be located. (6) Bateman's description of the barrow site is too vague to allow identification. The barrow is either destroyed or lost. (9)