The Modern Antiquarian. Stone Circles, Ancient Sites, Neolithic Monuments, Ancient Monuments, Prehistoric Sites, Megalithic MysteriesThe Modern Antiquarian

Stanton Dale Barrows

Round Barrow(s)

Miscellaneous

Although these two barrows lie within the parish of Stanton, East Staffordshire they are a considerable distance to the North-West of the village. Stanton Dale barrows are in an accessible location to the South-West of Calton Moor crossroads where the A52 Cheadle road meets the A523 Leek to Ashbourne road. A rough track called Dale Lane runs to the North linking Common Lane to the A52 Cheadle road. A single footpath leads off Dale Lane across three fields before turning slightly to the right and enters the field containing the second barrow - with the other barrow just over the field wall to the South. Both barrows are shown on OS Landranger Map 119 and Explorer Map 259 by two earthwork symbols and a Tumuli label.

Stanton Dale 'A' - SK10775 48088. Scheduled Ancient Monument No. = 1009684. Scheduled as Bowl Barrow 190m North of Dale Abbey Farm. RSM = 13580. NMR = SK14 NW3.

A small, roughly oval stone and earth barrow with a flattened top 16.5m by 12m and up to 0.7m high sited to the South of the summit of the hill. The barrow lies to the South of the public footpath in the field adjoining Mount Pleasant Farm. The North-East and South-West sides of the mound are steep - possibly suggesting some robbing has occurred. There is an irregularly shaped shallow pit 0.1m deep at the centre of the mound that is thought to be the result of excavation. The previously unlocated excavation of Dale barrow recorded on page 125 of Bateman's Ten Years Diggings... is now thought to have probably been at this site.

On the 6th September 1848 Samuel Carrington opened a barrow at Dale (in the township of Stanton) about a mile from Calton Moor House. It is recorded in Bateman as irregular in form being 13 yards North to South and 16 East to West and about 3ft high. On the natural surface an unusual interment was found - two skeletons lain in a line head to toe which had been "exposed to the action of fire upon the spot, in such a manner as to preserve the bones in their natural state." They were surrounded by charcoal and earth and were of different sexes. Parts of an unburnt skull and some teeth were disturbed by the more Southern of these cremation-like deposits suggesting that an earlier inhumation had been moved to accommodate the burning of the skeletons. Some flint flakes and a fragment of pottery were found nearer to the surface of the mound.

John Barnatt included the barrow in his 1989 survey of Peakland barrows and speculates that the unusual shape of the barrow and nature of these partial cremations could indicate that Stanton Dale A is a Neolithic barrow.

Stanton Dale 'B' - SK10724 48123. Scheduled Ancient Monument No. = 1017688. Scheduled as Bowl Barrow 220m North of Dale Abbey Farm. RSM = 13579. NMR = SK14 NW3.

The second barrow to the North of the public footpath is less impressive. It is an oval earth and stone mound 24m by 18m up to 1m high which merges into the natural slope of the summit of the hill. Both the barrow and the natural slope have been ploughed down and spread leaving the barrow mound poorly defined. There are two shallow pits upon the mound but it is unclear if these are the result of excavation, stone robbing or plough damage. Pastscape states the barrow is not known to have been excavated but the NMR excavation records "Dale Abbey" excavated 1848 by Carrington - this may be a duplication of the Dale barrow excavation.
BrownEdger Posted by BrownEdger
4th September 2014ce
Edited 5th September 2014ce

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