”And back on the unchanging Flat of Stoke
Stand rugged stones in circle, whence the sun
The whole of day was seen, and where the stroke
Of sacrifice was at his rising done.
And out on Ramsley’s brackened floor,
And high on Eyam’s black barren moor,
And far o’er Offerton and all around
These olden temples stud the higher ground.”
A verse from The Pride of the Peak by Ethel Bassett Gallimore (1926)
“In our walk to Matlock, we passed along the side of the hill to Riber Top, where a singular assemblage of stones, supposed to have been originally a druidical altar; some antiquaries say, a cromlech, which appears more probable: they are called Hirst Stones, and are not unworthy of a visit; since those who feel no interest in these ancient relics will be amply repaid for the toil and trouble of ascending this eminence by the prospect it commands”
From ‘Peak Scenery or The Derbyshire Tourist’ 1824 by Ebenezer Rhodes.
“....as we cruise again down the valley to Grindleford Bridge; first making a detour to visit the grand rocky platform of Hu-Gaer, (“The city of God”), and the old British fort of Caelswork (“which means, the fort or building of the Churl – Anglo-Saxon ‘Carl’” – and not “the work of the Gaels,” as a repitition of writers have it;) and to bask on Millstone Edge......”
Edward Bradbury ‘All About Derbyshire’ 1884
The first verse of many by William Bennet 1867.
THE DRIVING OF THE DEER.
Lord Peverel stood on the Lord’s Seat,
And an angry man was he;
For he heard the sound of a hunter’s horn
Slow winding up the lea.
He look’d to north, he look’d to south,
And east and west look’d he:
And ” Holy cross! “the fierce Norman cried,”
Who hunts in my country?
Easily seen in the field between the road and the farm. Ploughing has damaged the barrow which was excavated in 1877 by Jewitt and Greenwell when a
disturbed limestone cist was discovered together with the remains of two cremations.
HER No.: 9871
A standing stone was identified in woodland on Farley Moor, at c. SK 29966302. It was reported as standing over 6ft tall. The stump of another was said to be a little distance away; no grid reference was provided for this second stone.
The 1st edition 25” Ordnance Survey map of c. 1880 marks ‘Stone’ at this site, which at that time was open moorland. Nothing is shown on the 2nd edition.
(Heritage Gateway)
The views from the Rocks are about to change....a windfarm is being built on the nearby Carsington Pastures. Groundwork’s already started.
Along with the Peak Park Board I also contacted the Forestry Commission, who are the landowners, about the stone, to see if they had any thoughts or info on the stone.
In the end I ended up telling them what I had found out. But they did tell me that there are plans to carry on clearing the area around the stone of trees.
In 1691 the ‘remarkable Ashover personality of later Stuart times’, Leonard Wheatcroft, wrote in his autobiography “And in that yeare I bu(i)lde(d) the fabrick upon the top of Ashover Hill, upon which I made a song which you may find in my booke of poetry’. This records how on April 11 1689 Wheatcroft had lit a bonfire on the hilltop to celebrate the coronation of King William of Orange and Queen Mary Stuart and that he had decided to “bu(i)ld me up a fabrick, to behould each pleasant day”. It was obviously intended as a kind of rustic folly or summer house where he and his friends could celebrate the Protestant Succession. We have some knowledge of the appearance of his ‘Fabrick’ as it was recorded on a plan and elevation by Hayman Rooke in 1784. This shows that the natural rock outcrop sloping from north-east to south-west had been built up with squared stone to create an oval tower-like structure measuring 9 ft by 6 ft. The top of the wall has the effect of being battlemented, but this may simply be the result of years of decay. An entrance was left at the south-east side and around the inside of the horseshoe-shaped wall was a continuous stone seat. The top of the rock seems to have been made up with earth or stones to form a flat but sloping floor, in the middle of which stood an oval stone ‘table’. The sketch agrees with Wheatcroft’s own description of the structure. “This fabrickes bu(i)lded like an ovall, ‘tis neaither square nore loung nor round”. He also mentioned that “in it there is but one doore”. Whether it ever had a roof or any type of wooden superstructure is not clear but no trace of this artificial building now remains.
From the Derbyshire HER
It is thought the barrow is one excavated by Thomas Bateman in 1851. He found it to contain a central limestone cist containing a pottery urn
inverted over the remains of a cremation and a burnt bone pin.
He discovered a second cist containing the crouched skeletons of two adults and two children accompanied by a food vessel and a number of flint implements.
An adult crouched burial was found close to this second cist and a further two burials of children by the central cist
Thomas Bateman excavated here in the late 1840’s, discovering three crouched burials in a rock cut grave with flints and a jet necklace accompanying them. The burials in turn were coverd by stones, on the top of these stones were a cremation and animal bones.
A later Anglian burial was also discovered.
Info: Barnatt, Marsden and NMR.
Thomas Bateman excavated the barrow in the late 1840’s, discovering a rock cut grave. In it were the bones of a teenage girl and younger infant accompanied by a beaker.
There was a stone cist nearby containing 6 burials and flint implements.
The hut circle is Romano-British and is the survivor of what once were three, the other two were damaged when found and have since been lost to the plantation.
Although outside of the websites remit, it is quite possibly handy to keep the entries as the hut circles are more than likely the stone circles described by Hayman Rooke in the 18th Century.
From the DAJ:
“Across Robin Hood’s Stride are at least seven groups of probable cup marks; six on the outcrop proper and one on a largeboulder to the SE.”
Further to the rock art that is shown in the photographs the DAJ note 3 more examples
i) Two parrallel lines of cups flanked by two pairs of cups with a long groove above them
ii) A large cup surrounded by a ring of seven cups with a further five cups nearby.
iii) Similar to ii) a central cup and five outer cups.
The passage of the chamber is unmistakenly aligned to Harboro’ Rocks a short distance away....I have a hair brained theory that the builders of the mound were acknowledging a local historically important place....the Rocks are the site of another Neolithic chambered burial but the finds made around them, like the Hopton handaxe, takes Harboro’ back in human history to the Paleolithic.
I haven’t had chance to read them yet but Elton Common has been mentioned twice in the Derbyshire Archaeological Journal.....
1968: A Late Neolithic Site at Elton
&
1982: Field Walking at Elton Common.
25 x 16m barrow opened by bateman in 1851 and described in his ‘Ten Years Digging.....’ volume. He recovered a burial of human and animal bone within the mound and on the old ground surface, beneath the mound, he found 4 disturbed inhumations accompanied by a beaker and a bone artefact. Around this central burial were 5 concentric arcs of stone.
Info: J. Barnatt & J. Collis.
Excavated by Bateman in 1845 and recorded in his ‘Vestiges of .....’ book a few years later. He found a central burial on a limestone pavement beneath the mound, and a cremation in a pit.
Info: J.Barnatt & J. Collis
Plough damaged barrow measuring 16x14m. Excavated by Lucas and Carrington in the 1860’s, the results were badly recorded so all that is known is they found bone, pottery and flint of unspecified types.
Info J.Barnatt & J.Collis
There are visible disturbances at the centre of the structure suggesting there may have been a very limited excavation.
From the NMR.
Excavation of the cairn has revealed artefacts, indicating that the structure was a Bronze Age funerary monument, but residual worked stone material, incorporated into the mound, indicates that the immediate area was also occupied during the earlier Mesolithic period.
From NMR.
Partial excavations carried out by Thomas Bateman in 1843 and 1851, and by Marsden in the late 1960s, have revealed the remains of eleven human burials of adults and children, most of which were crouched inhumations but some of which were cremations. The primary burial was a cremation laid on a flat stone at the centre of the mound adjacent to a barbed and tanged flint arrowhead. Several of the secondary burials were laid in rock-cut graves or cists formed of limestone slabs, one of which was
covered by a paved chert ceiling. In addition to the crouched skeleton, the latter grave contained a flint knife and a decorated clay drinking vessel.
This and other similar vessels assign the barrow to the Beaker period or Early Bronze Age, and this date is supported by other Bronze Age artefacts which, in addition to flint implements, include a number of Bronze pins. Also found, on
the old land surface beneath the barrow, was a Neolithic polished stone axe and a pointed arrowhead of a similar date. These earlier artefacts are likely to be residual remains contained in the material used to build the barrow.
Info from the NMR.
SK233685. Partially excavated by Bateman. He revealed a pit under the centre of the barrow containing lead ore.
SK236684. Possibly excavated by Major Rooke in the later half of 18th Century and later by Bateman who found it disturbed.
The mound contained a small cist with a food vessel and cremation interned within it.
SK239683. Possibly opened by Rooke.
SK241680. Possibly opened by Rooke and later Bateman.
Prior to an excavation by W Bateman in 1824 stone robbers uncovered a cist holding 2 skeletons and an urn. Bateman’s dig unearthed another cist containing cremations, inhumations, urn fragments and dogs teeth. Later Romano coins were also found indicating its later use.
Thomas Bateman may have excavated this barrow in 1860, although it’s not confirmed, and found a contracted skeleton laying on a bed of burnt wood along with a flint arrowhead and a bronze awl.
The second stone mentioned in previous misc. post has now been donated to Leek Museum and is on display.
A Coppy Of Ye Boundaries Of Abney Lordship 12 Edward II (1317)
“.....and so to ye slack att Highlow Head and so straight over the moore to a round hill of knowle called Berching Hatt from thence to Standing Stone.”
I think Berching Hatt refers to the once large cairn at SK211 802, still on the parish boundary. Highlow Bank Cairn.
This barrow and its close neighbour Chatsworth Park Barrow are relatively new discoveries. Barnatt & Collis do not mention them in the barrow corpus, neither does Marsden in his earlier work on Derbyshire barrows.
It wasn’t until John Barnatt surveyed Chatsworth Park, and subsequently published a book on the estate, that they came to light.
From Cheshire HER:-
Name: Standing stone at Ginclough 400m WSW Gin Clough Farm
SMR Number: 1606
Type of record: Monument
Map Sheet: SJ97NE
Parish: RAINOW, MACCLESFIELD, CHESHIRE EAST
Summary
Large stone or glacial erratic by track to Cutlers Farm, Rainow Road. The stone is cut away on 2 sides to create a square face on the east side The stone stands just under a metre high on the south side of the road. Standing stones are large stones of Prehistoric date that are though to have been placed upright for some sort of ceremonial purpose. They are sometimes set in pairs and are often found near other prehistoric sites including burial grounds.
Monument Types
STANDING STONE (Late Prehistoric – 4000 BC? to 42 AD)
Protected Status
Scheduled Monument 25702: Standing Stone At Ginclough 400M Wsw Of Gin Clough Farm
---------------------
Pastscape also list this stone as a reused Bronze Age standing stone.
It was here in 1844 when Thomas Bateman carried out an excavation of the barrow and discovered a crouched skeleton and the remains of a cremation with a bronze artefact in a collared urn.
Excavated several times the first by Bateman in 184 he discovered a contracted inhumation in a rock cut grave accompanied by a beaker, he also uncovered a burial of a child. Subsequent digs unearthed a disturbed inhumation along with flints and an unspecified type of bead.
J.Barnatt’s Barrow Corpus.
Thmas Bateman did a partial excavation of the barrow in 1843 he discovered a cremation burial within a limestone cist and also a secondary inhumation. Both were accompanied by flint arrowheads and tools.
J. Barnatt’s Barrow Corpus.
The long barrow comprises a low wedge-shaped mound measuring 33.5m along its east-west axis and varying between 14m wide at the east end and 10m wide at the west end. The height drops from east to west from c.0.7m to c.0.2m. The bowl barrow, which is located off the west end of the long barrow, is a roughly circular cairn with a diameter of 9.5m surviving to a height of c.0.2m. The surface of the cairn has been excavated or robbed of its stone but the old land surface in which burials will have been placed is still intact. There is no recorded excavation of the long barrow though it is possible that the bowl barrow was one of those on Brassington Moor excavated by Thomas Bateman in 1849.
Info from NMR.
Thomas Bateman excavated here twice in 1843 and 1849. Heading for his usual central mound position he found a crouched inhumation. And then six years later he located another crouched burial on the south side of the barrow accompanied by a bronze axe, flint and some kind of pottery vessel.
J. Barnatt’s Barrow Corpus
The barrow was excavated prior to Thomas Batemans visit in the mid 1840’s but details of the finds are sketchy. Bateman’s work here unearthed a primary female burial laying on a layer of burnt bones and covered by a limestone slab. Above this were the remains of five more burials and above these a crouched skeleton of a female accompanied by two jet necklaces contained within a cist. Again on top within another cist were two more crouched burials along with a food vessel. On top of this cist was a cremation burial.
A later Anglo-Saxon burial with a silver necklace was also recovered from the mound.
J.Barnatt’s Barrow Corpus.
Barnatt’s Barrow Corpus says that Salt was the first to excavate here in 1895 finding a cist burial on the original ground surface along with animal bones and an animal cremation.
It was excavated several more times just before the end of the 19th Century where several more inhumations were discoverd along with flint artefacts, an antler tine, ochre, and later iron objects.
John Barnatt’s Barrow Corpus records that Thomas Bateman excavated here in 1851.....He found a skeleton central to the mound laid out on limestone flagstones along with a food vessel. Elsewhere in the mound were other human bones including those of a child and a number of flint tools.
Bateman turned his attention to this 17x13m cairn in 1850 and found both cremations and inhumations but no dateable artefacts to go with them.
J. Barnatt’s Barrow Corpus
In 1962 after excavation the monument was repaired, since the American Army on tank manoeuvres, during the Second World War, threw down some of the facade stones and broke them.
That mystic round of Druid fame,
Tardily sinking by its proper weight
Deep into patient earth, from whose smooth breast it came!
William Wordsworth The River Duddon (1820).
The cave scenes in Ken Russel’s film adaptation of Bram Stoker’s The Lair of the White Worm were filmed in Thors Cave.
In John Askew’s Guide To Cockermouth of 1872 he notes that some forty years earlier a Fletcher Grave of Cockermouth described two concentric circles on this site, the inner twenty paces and the outer sixty of which most were removed when the land was enclosed.
An outlying stone was recorded in 1923, to the SW of the circle, but has since been removed.
Measuring 9m by 8m and perhaps 1m in height. A partial excavation by Thomas Bateman in 1849 led to the discovery of a rock-cut grave containing three crouched skeletons.
A fourth skeleton buried with an iron spear head, points to its later re-use in the Anglian period.
Excavated in 1909, finds included Bronze and Iron Age pottery, Roman pottery plus coins, brooches, iron implements, some bone objects, spindle whorls and whetstones. A, now lost, glass bead may have been Iron Age in date.
Three flints recovered, now in Buxton Museum, have been identified as being of Upper Palaeolithic date.
Excavated between 1903 and 1912 by E.H. Mullins andD.A.E. Garrod, the cave is noted for its Later Upper Palaeolithic remains. It also produced Neolithic evidence in the form of a human burial and a small fragment of a childs skull.
Noted for its Later Upper Palaeolithic “Creswellian” artefacts the cave also contained material from the Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age and Roman eras.
A fissure cave2.5m wide and 1.5m high; leading
via a narrow passage to a chamber 4.5m long by 3m wide.
Partial excavations were carried out in the late 60’s early 70’s and revealed Roman artefacts and also material dating from the Later
Upper Palaeolithic, an antler from this level revealed a carbon date of 9830BP.
The shelter is a 3m overhang, 2.5m above the present floor level and 6m wide.
During excavations carried out by G.F. White in the 1960’s and 70’s; Mesolithic, Neolithic and Roman material was recovered. The shelter also contained Later Upper Palaeolithic retouched tools.