Details

Smerrill Moor bowl barrow is situated overlooking Long Dale in the central
uplands of the limestone plateau of Derbyshire. The monument includes a
sub-circular mound measuring 12m by 10.5m and standing c.0.5m high. A
prominent limestone kerb is visible on all sides. A partial excavation was
carried out by Thomas Bateman in 1857 when a rock-cut grave was found
containing a crouched skeleton on a bed of clay. This was accompanied by a
bone tool, several flint implements and a decorated pottery drinking vessel.
The vessel dates the barrow to the Beaker period or Early Bronze Age.

MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features,
considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

Bowl barrows, the most numerous form of round barrow, are funerary monuments
dating from the Late Neolithic period to the Late Bronze Age, with most
examples belonging to the period 2400-1500 BC. They were constructed as
earthen or rubble mounds, sometimes ditched, which covered single or multiple
burials. They occur either in isolation or grouped as cemeteries and often
acted as a focus for burials in later periods. Often superficially similar,
although differing widely in size, they exhibit regional variations in form
and a diversity of burial practices. There are over 10,000 surviving bowl
barrows recorded nationally (many more have already been destroyed), occurring
across most of lowland Britain. Often occupying prominent locations, they are
a major historic element in the modern landscape and their considerable
variation of form and longevity as a monument type provide important
information on the diversity of beliefs and social organisations amongst early
prehistoric communities. They are particularly representative of their period
and a substantial proportion of surviving examples are considered worthy of
protection.

Smerrill Moor bowl barrow has been left relatively undisturbed and further
significant archaeological remains will survive in the unexcavated areas of
the monument and on the old land surface underneath.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Barnatt, J, The Peak District Barrow Survey (1989), (1989)
Barnatt, J, The Peak District Barrow Survey (1989), (1989)
Bateman, T, Ten Years Diggings in Celtic and Saxon Grave-Hills, (1861), 102-3
Clarke, D L, The Beaker Pottery of Great Britain and Ireland, (1970)
Marsden, B M, The Burial Mounds of Derbyshire , (1977), 75-6

Source: Historic England