Laying in a field behind Eldon quarry slag heaps and at the bottom of what must have been the once impressive.... and soon to be no more Eldon Hill.
The long barrow is orientated ENE/WSW and is around 50x25m and over 1m high in places. A round barrow is superimposed on the eastern end.
It’s still well worth a look.
Only a short walk across a field off the B6061 Castleton – Sparrowpit, there’s room for a car on the roadside.
It’s only a short walk from Harrod Low up Gautries Hill to the barrow on the top, it’s well hammered now, but it’s so obvious why it’s here. It’s only when you’re fully at the top that the views open up. Mam Tor in the NE and views over Crowden and Hayfield in the West.
OK it’s spoilt a little by Eldon Hill quarry nearby..... but it’s still a top place.
This long barrow is orientated East-West and is approx. 42x17m.
On the whole it’s not very impressive suffering from stone pits and ploughing.
It was dug in the 1770’s where the only recorded finds were bones, of an unspecified type.
There’s places to park in Sparrowpit and the barrow is half a mile across the fields.
Strawberry Lea is an arc of four stones varying in height from 1m to 30cm. There may be the ruins of a cist in the centre.
If this is the remains of a ring cairn, it’s position seems a bit odd, being at the bottom of the slopes Wimble Holme Hill. In J Barnatt’s barrow corpus he suggests the site may be similar to that of Moscar Moor and that both were originally stone circles and later had their interiors filled.
(Although Barnatt doesn’t mention Crook Hill in his books, this too may be a similar site)
A tricky one to spot, even though it’s close to the path... probably no chance of finding it in the summer, when the bracken is high.
I stumbled on this site on the ‘Archi’ disc......
I risked it and droved down a private road, and that’s when the problems started. Just as I started out walking, some geezer spotted me....and said there was no chance I was gonna be walking round the fields. Big bloke too, so I didn’t.
Looking closer at the map when I got back I realised I’d taken the wrong road anyhow.........
The ‘Archi’ disc reckons there’s an Iron Age hillfort with a number of defensive banks there.
Further to Purejoys Misc. posting....
The cairn is very close to the Mayon lookout post and has great views along the coast especially toward Lands End.
The remaining stones of the kerb and cist are quite impressive.
Burr Tor is quite a large fort enclosing roughly 8 acres. On the ground there is not a great deal to see, there are faint traces of a bank and ditch toward the eastern edge of the fort.
The fort is now the airfield for the Derbyshire Gliding Club, they’re alright about you sniffing around as long as you ask and stick to where they tell you to walk.
The gliding club offer flights for around £25, should give you a good view of the fort.
This circular enclosure lays right next to the Roman road Batham Gate.
Over the years the enclosure was thought to be a Roman camp of some kind, until the road was found to built over and around the section of the enclosure it crosses over.
Nowadays it’s thought to be a stock enclosure dating to the Bronze or Iron Age.
A modern drystone wall cuts the site in half.
Access is easy as it’s by the side of the road, parking on the lane ain’t.
Eyam Moor II lays right next to the footpath but is probably the hardest circle to find on the moor. Despite its closeness to the path it was only rediscovered in the 1980’s.
The four remaining uprights are near enough totally covered in bilberry and none are above 30cm. It is a small circle approx. 8x8m, and there is a small dug out cairn in the centre of the circle.
I always approach Eyam Moor III from the Leam side of the Moor. There is a space on the verge, near Leam & the footpath that takes you up onto the moor. (SK232794). When you reach the drystone wall, look left, the circle is near the corner of the wall 200m away.
The 4 upright stones are covered with bilberry and there are a further 2 laying in the heather. In the centre is a ruined oval cairn, with a large trench cut into it.
The longbarrow is around 35m in length and is situated in a field to the east of Minninglow. The actual barrow is rather unimpressive and it struggles to get noticed above the long grass.
As with Minninglow it lies on private land.
Between the Googleby Stone and the Thunder Stone are several other stones, Aspers Field Stone can be seen in the fields from the Googleby Stone, what would have been the top of the stone if it was upright has several cup markings and what could be a ring.
At NY555153 are 2 other fallen stones in the wall side.
See Fitzcoraldos pics under the Hill of Skulls/Skellaw
The half circle of Iron Hill North has one stone of limestone amongst the Shap granite, this also occurs at other sites nearby such as Gunnerkeld and Gamelands.
There is a sandstone boulder in Iron Hill South that has 4 or 5 cupmarks on the top.
Destroyed when the area was enclosed. Only the outlier ’ King Harry’s Stone ’ remains ( 5ft high and perhaps 4ft wide ), the stone was an outlier of what was a large circle of over 80 stones.
No path as such...
but hey.
Make it part of your explorations of the ruined Broomrigg complexes.
With Long Meg further to the south, the henges at Penrith even further, Grey Yauds stands in a long line of big circles and henges.
The Broomrigg plantation is definitely worth a sniff around, OK so most of it is lost and ruined and in a heavily planted forest. But in a way it adds to the atmosphere, makes up a little for the lost views.
There are the remains of a large circle, 4 stones in a arc made of red sandstone. A low bank of a henge, and kerb and cairn circles.
They can take some finding, but you can make it a start to the journey out to see King Harry’s Stone over the fields at Grey Yauds.
Always a highlight of a visit to the Shap area...The size and shape of the stones are just perfect. The limestone pavement you cross to get to the stones has some great formations in it, as it’s weathered thru the years.
Make sure you see this circle.
Keep an eye out for Ironman’s Oddendale Cairn I on the way up to the circle.
Perhaps a mile further along the limestone pavement is a ruined circle, it stands on a small mound and although it is ruined its circle of low jagged stones are still quite impressive. And it is a pleasant walk here from the double circle.
If you follow Burl’s directions and drive up Mountain Road to the two pillars, the stones of the Druid’s Circle can just be made out on the horizon.
I have been told the Hole Stone has been moved from it’s original position and is now either used as..... A gatepost in one of the field walls near Holestone Farm or Holestone Cottage. Used in the construction of a farm building or just plain (h)ol(e)d lost.
A huge millstone grit block, that is said to grant wishes if you walk around it 3 times widdershins and then stand on top. Another version saves you walking round it, just sit on it and wish.
Mentioned in several ley hunters guides (if you go for that sorta thing) as the start/end of one of the Arbor Low ley lines.
Cuckoo Stone is thought to have originated from cock crow stone, this is another Derbyshire stone that is said to move around at dawn.
I have never been able to make my mind up about this stone, whether it is natural or erected. It was it’s closeness to the lost Seven Brideron circle that got me thinking.
With J. Barnatt, Hayman Rooke and Samuel Pegge all suggesting that the Seven Brideron stone circle stood a short distance away to the NE on Matlock Moor it does seem plausible that this stone played a part in the ancient landscape.
The stone has been a long recognised feature of the area with a dale, a lane, a farm, a wood and a quarry all named after it....it also features on Matlock Golf Club’s badge.
It stands on the 11th fairway at Matlock golf club, about 20yds from the path that cuts across it.
Round Low is a bit tired looking and doesn’t really stand out amongst all the old lead workings it lies in. Be careful if you leave the path here or on Carsington Pastures some of the old shafts are only covered with wooden boards and grass.
The Hopton Works spoil the view to Harboro Rocks which, in itself, is well worth a sniff around.
This ring cairn is quite near to the road but is still tricky to find. A bit more visible(??) than the Birchen Edge South ring cairn, but also not very impressive.
At around 20x20m the 2m wide banking is just about covered by peat, grass and heather.
A cairn is built on to the NE corner of the bank (.....no really).
Excellent views across Ramsley and Big Moors. Nelson’s ships on Birchen Edge itself are visible quarter of a mile away across the moor, to the South(ish).
This is a probable ring cairn, it is very irregular in shape and it becomes hard to follow the line of the bank in the South. It lies next to a cairn field and old field systems.
The site is tricky to find as the overgrown bank is very low and narrow.
Always go and find someone from the farm before visiting....
Tiny hillfort (because of it’s size it is thought to be more of a refuge) enclosing only 3 quarters of an acre. Good bank, ditch and counterscarp. A small section is missing in the SE. Rooke described an entrance visible in the SE in the 18th Century, but there are no traces today.
If you follow the ‘Limestone Way’ around the farm. There looks to be the remains of what might’ve been an outer bank. Over 2m high in places.
Gib Hill is thought to have been built in two stages, an early Bronze Age round barrow sits on top of a neolithic oval barrow. Inside the fence that surrounds the ‘hill’ traces of a ditch can be made out, dug to form the oval barrow.
There are 4 long stones (around 4ft ) that lay round the base of the round barrow that Barnatt suggests to be gateposts, quarried from Arbor Low II.
The stone visible on top of the mound is the capstone to a Bronze Age cist; returned to Gib Hill after serving time as a garden ornament at Bateman’s house. When first returned the cist stood proud of the mound, but vandalism to it, soon saw the cist reburied.
I’m lucky enough to be able to say Arbor Low is one of my local sites.
There used to be a holed stone at Arbor Low, an 8ft long thin stone with a perferct largish circle through the middle. The first mention of it I can find is when in the 1920’s it was used as a threshold between 2 gateposts. At the start of the 1930’s when access was improved to the henge the stone was put upright and used as a gatepost. The hole was then at ground level.
Between then and the mid 90’s the stone moved around wall sides near the farm until vanishing sometime in the last 10-12yrs.
Some old guys in the local one night told me that the stone is a garden ornament somewhere around Bakewell........but then,that could just be old guys in the local.....
Pea Low is one of the Peaks best preserved barrows, and it is enormous around 45mx40m and still over 3m high.
It is thought it may contain chambers but none have been found, Bateman and Carrington half heartedly excavated here several times in the 1840’s. The outcome of their work showed that the barrow had been re-used much later for Roman burials.
The views from the barrow are excellent through 360’.
Theres a small car park in Alstonefield, you can see Pea Low on a nearby hill only a short walk away.
On a large boulder just below the summit of Ladybower Tor are two very worn carvings. One is a double ringed oval the other a swastika in a 30cm ring ( the swastika is about half the size ).
I’ve never managed to get a photo worth posting because they are both so worn; Which also makes them a bit of a pain to find.
The Northern most, known rock art in The Peak.
By the turn off for Tissington on the A515 Buxton – Ashbourne road.
Boars Low is a bit battered from when it was tree covered, but is still quite impressive in its height. It was dug in the 1840’s when a human cremation was found.
The limestone knoll of Wigber Low has a long rich history. Stretching back to the Neolithic where it appears the knoll was used as a camp that saw return visits....
Flint flakes and tools along with several hand axes and parts of others.
The axes found were from three sources; Graig Lwyd in N. Wales, Langdale Pikes Cumbria and Charnwood Forest in Leicestershire.
The next phase saw the construction of an excarnation platform in the Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age.
Followed sometime later by the cairn visible today.
Then in the 7th Century, several high status burials were placed within the cairn; spears, knives and brooches accompanying them.
Excellent long range views...the domed hills of Wolfscote, Narrowdale and Gratton clearly visible to the NW.
While the familiar sight of Minninglow Hill and the Green Low ridge occupy the N/NE horizon.
I returned to Ringham Low to look again for the exposed chambers, hoping that the rotting animal bodies had gone.
The farmer was most dis-chuffed to find me looking for them, the remains of the Low are next to a path, but he doesn’t allow visitors. In fact from what I could gather he backed filled the chambers to “keep nobbers like me well away”
This must be one of Derbyshires best kept secrets, a triple cairn on Fallinge Edge nr Beeley Moor. The kerb stones remain and the middle cairn has a double row of stones. The length of the cairns overall is around 50ft.
The stones on the northern side of the cairn are quite large, a little section of the kerb is missing in the NW, where a medieval lead bole was built, but otherwise it is complete.
The easiest way to get there is to park near ‘wraggs’ disused quarry SK282684, jump over the gate and follow the track to the edge of the moor. OK so it says private......but.
Outstanding views from the cairn, with Minninglow prominent on the horizon in the west.
Most of the ancient carvings are found on the western edge of the outcrop, around the level below the 3 seater rock armchair.
The ‘cross’ in Baz’s pic is on the northern side 20ft below the armchair.
The cup and ringed marked boulder can be seen south of the chair on the level below, two of the carvings can be seen. While a very worn third carving, is on the boulders top flat left hand corner.
25ft west of the cup and ring boulder and under a large tree is a very worn carving of a ‘serpent’? There’s a large cup mark and a faint wavy line travelling down the rock, with a semi cirle carving next to it ( along with the cup this is the most prominent part )
A couple of feet below this, in the tree roots is another rock with a worn carving along the same lines as the ‘serpent’. 6 cup marks and another faint wavy line between them.
The large (50cm) circular carving is on a horizontal ledge, behind the Eastern ‘chimney’. It was uncovered in the 1970’s. And is of an uncertain age, the vegetation that covered it may have preserved it.
Careful if you go looking for this in the wet and if you suffer from vertigo.
There are 2 barrows here, the map ref is for the largest, which although has been robbed in order to build the wall that crosses it.
The smaller one is 100ft or so away, pretty wrecked, there are several visible limestone kerb stones.
Bateman dug here in the 1840’s the only recorded finds are flints.
Ivet Low lies near the roadside, near the junction with Manystones Lane.
The barrow is very overgrown, with dumps of rubble close-by.
End Low is still very large and stands around 2m tall. A large crater in the middle is where Bateman dug to find the grave, which was nearly 2m below the old ground level. He found a crouched skeleton and bronze and flint daggers.
The central pit when I was up there contained four decomposing cows.
House? Robbed or Ring Cairn? No-ones sure.
There maybe an entrance in the SW, kerb stones to the left of this and opposite in the NE corner. Also to the right of the entrance is what looks like a small cairn built into the bank. 3 upright slabs are under the stones and are thought possibly to be the remains of a cist.
The landowner is never pleased to see you.
Ilkley’s a nice enough place, but they found the shittiest little bit of it to put these 3 stones in. Nasty metal fence round them too, I can sorta see why they fence ‘em in to stop graffitti and stuff. But one of the stones had a dirty great green paint splash across it.......same colour as the fence was painted....hmmmm
At the turning for Siver Well Cottage. Instead of going down the drive look for a little track on the opposite side. The stone is along here and quite easy to spot.
There are 2 cup and ring marked stones along the drive to silver well cottage.( 10m south of the drive). Both are small and the carvings are worn.
Never found it since!!...wound me up writing that. So today I made sure I chuffin’ well found it again.
Easy to miss and not a deal there when you find it, it has to be said. The kerb/rubble bank although overgrown is very wide with some good coarses of stones visible in the heather.
The site is marked as being in a ‘Danger Area’ on the O.S maps (rifle range), so keep your head down if there’s red flags about.
Standing next to a trig point on the prominent hill of Aleck Low this barrow is very disturbed. Several limestone kerbstones are visible around the outer edge of the mound.
The views over to Hawks Low and Minninglow are worth the short walk. Room to pull off the A515, just south of Newhaven, by the track/path that leads up the hill.
I was once taken up here years ago. There wasn’t much to see, a low rubble bank and stones that may or may not have had something to do with the circle, and it was very overgrown.
Never found it since......
Judging by what’s left the barrow it must have been quite large at sometime. The barrow has a metal sign stuck into it, nasty as it is, it’s about the only thing on the moor to direct you to the Wet Withens circle which is close by it.
Not much of the earthworks remain up here, the bank and ditch are only visible on the western side.
There are 5 barrows along the pastures from the fort at Ball Cross to Rowsley; 4 on the pastue and 1 in forestry land.
They’re not overly impressive but not bad for Peak Barrows on improved land. Three barrows are now fenced off and because of that very overgrown.
Nothing special but it’s a plasant walk with good views across to Beeley Moor.
This round cairn visible from the Biggin Rd off the A515 Buxton-Ashbourne, has been much dug and a lot of the mound has gone. It covered a Neolithic single grave burial. The mound was also in use in the Bronze Age.
Thomas Bateman dug here and found a crouched skeleton in a cist made from limestone and many grave goods which included polished flint axe heads, a deer horn macehead and a small pottery flask.
The polished flint axe heads are on display in Sheffield Weston Park Museum.