Fin Cop is going to be excavated again in July and August of 2010 by Clive Waddington of Archaeological Research Services in conjunction with the National Park Authority, Longstone Local History Group, English Heritage and Natural England and funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Open days will be held every Saturday of the five week dig; July 10th, 17th, 24th and 31st meeting in the Monsal Head car park, overlooking the viaduct, at 11am and 1pm.
Details of the 2009 excavations at Fin Cop.
Dr Clive Waddington and the Longstone Local History Group, excavated Fin Cop in July 2009, several open days for public viewing were held...
“It is believed the Iron Age hillfort is between 3,000 and 2,000 years old. Radiocarbon dating of surviving material is likely to enable more accurate dating. Tools and weapons made from stone from the Lake District and the Yorkshire Wolds or Lincolnshire were also found. The corpse will be analysed to try to determine its sex, age and origin. The adult skeleton, which had been thrown into a ditch and covered with stones, was uncovered during a three-week dig at the site”.
Liz Roberts Grough Website.
The results will be announced at a Derbyshire Archaelogical Day in Chesterfield in January next year.
Located in the trees to the west of Robin Hoods Stride. A short walk along the vehicle track of approximately 80m, with the stones visible in trees immediately to the right of the track.
One of the larger stones in the ring has a well carved number 3 on it, perhaps suggesting there are several other hut circles in the area.
3 is worth noting as Rooke mentioned 3 circles in the area around Durwood (Dudwood to Barnatt)....so is this one of them?
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.
12/09. Skull and thigh bone from Five Wells; the passage is recreated in a fibreglass recreation thingy (Buxton Museum) and the bones displayed at entrance to chamber.
12/08. Craig Llwyd axe recovered from Hindlow displayed in Buxton’s museum and art gallery.
12/08. Chert axe from Hindlow on display in Buxton’s museum and art gallery.
In Harold T. Wilkins’ book Mysteries Solved & Unsolved he suggests that the stones name is derived from Ambrosie petrie the annointed stone. Meanwhile Doreen Valiente states that another possible origin of the name is from the Latin word ambire meaning to go round and that the stone was danced around. Both authors mention the stone was a focus for witchcraft ceremonies in centuries past.
In 1652 George Fox, the founder of the Quaker movement climbed Pendle Hill because he was ‘moved of the Lord‘ to do so. On its summit he saw a vision and had a mystical experience which inspired him in his religious mission.
“The local people call the spot Mother Goring; and at one time there was a custom of coming up to the Ring to see the sun rise on the morning of May Day. The Ring is said to be haunted by the apparition of a man on horseback....”
From:
An ABC of Witchcraft Past & Present.
Doreen Valiente
Doreen Valiente in her book ‘An ABC of Witchcraft Past and Present’ reckons the name of Rudston is derived from the Old-Norse Hrodr-steinn meaning ‘the famous stone‘
This small barrow perhaps 13m in diameter lies just off the Tissington Trail near the Stonepit Plantation. Car Park at SK156548.
Thomas Bateman was here in 1845 and upon digging the mound found a crouched skeleton accompanied by a bronze dagger.
Marked on O.S maps as Crake Low this mound is suggested by Barnatt to be mining spoil, rather than the barrow described by Bateman in this area, in which he had found human bones.
This cairn measures around 22m in diameter and survives to a height of around 1m.
T. Bateman excavated here in the mid 1840’s finding a large cist central to the mound in which was a crouched skeleton. A smaller cist within the larger one was also uncovered containing a cremation. On top of these two features were two other skeletal burials, flints and an antler tine.
This is a large quite impressive barrow around 45m in diameter and around 2m in height, with maybe traces of a wide ditch.
Just off the A515, although not visible from it, access is by way of one of two paths close to Boars Low, one being to the north and another to the east.
Bateman dug here in the 1840’s finding Bronze Age flints and pottery sherds.
This barrow is visible on the closest horizon when approaching Minninglow by way of the High Peak Trail from the NW. The roman road, The Street, passes within a few metres of the barrow.
07/07. Scraper, blade & arrowhead found below Aleck Low on the slopes close to Upperhouse Farm SK179 593. Several Neolithic camps/settlements have been identified in this area and there have been a great many discoveries made here over the years.
The field is ploughed almost annually and a footpath crosses it.
Amongst the cairnfields and field systems of Birchen Edge is this low burial cairn with several remaining stones of a cist.
SK2846 7226 about 600m east-ish from the ring cairn of Birchen Edge South.
Pastscapes information:
A rock overhang circa 8 metres deep with a maximum of 2 metres headroom in Bunker’s Hill Wood, Beeley Moor. Discovered and partially excavated in 1957, more extensive excavation was undertaken in 1966. Artefacts recovered seem to comprise solely sherds of Bronze Age collared urns. No flint, stone or bone objects or remains were encountered, and no trace of a burial was identified in the area of the potsherds.
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On private land belonging to the Chatsworth Estate, so it’s best to get permission.
This rock shelter is well hidden amongst the thick trees of the plantation and difficult to spot from the track.
SK2844 6903 gets you to the spot.
This cave can be tricky (and not the safest of things) to find amongst the old spoil heaps and mine shafts, the whole pasture is full of them. The cave is located on a local high spot near rocky ground on Carsington Pastures’ southern edge overlooking Carsington Water. The two entrances, one in a hollow the other on a small knoll directly above it, are both locked.
