Details

Snelslow Plantation is in the north-west uplands of the limestone plateau of
Derbyshire. The monument is a bowl barrow including a sub-circular mound
measuring 16m by 12m and standing c.1.75m high. A partial excavation of the
barrow was carried out by Marsden in 1971 when it was found that the large
earthen barrow concealed a smaller central limestone cairn with a height of
0.6m and a diameter of 5m. This cairn covered a layer of clay beneath which
were the remains of a crouched inhumation in addition to a second disturbed
inhumation and some burnt human bone indicative of a cremation burial.
Numerous flint artefacts were also found within the cairn whilst above it,
inserted into the earth mound, was found the extended skeleton of a child. The
latter was a secondary burial and indicates the later re-use of the barrow.
The primary remains date the monument to the 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.

Only the centre of Snelslow Plantation bowl barrow has been disturbed by
excavation 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)
Marsden, B M, The Burial Mounds of Derbyshire , (1977), 85
Marsden, B, 'Derbyshire Archaeological Journal' in The Excavation of Snel's Low and Lean Low Round Cairns, Derbys., , Vol. 96, (1976), 5

Source: Historic England