Details

The monument is situated in the north-west uplands of the limestone plateau of
Derbyshire and is a long barrow which includes a straight-sided linear mound
measuring 42m from east to west by 18m from north to south. At its east end it
is c.1m high and, at its west end, c.0.5m high. The east end of the barrow has
been truncated by ploughing and faint plough ridges can be seen running north
to south, most clearly near the western end of the barrow. There has been no
recorded excavation of the site though Bray, writing in 1775, records that
human bones were found there in the 18th century. The form and location of the
monument, below the crest of a hill, date it to the Neolithic period.

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

Long barrows were constructed as earthen or drystone mounds with flanking
ditches and acted as funerary monuments during the Early and Middle Neolithic
periods (3400-2400 BC). They represent the burial places of Britain's early
farming communities and, as such, are amongst the oldest field monuments
surviving visibly in the present landscape. Where investigated, long barrows
appear to have been used for communal burial, often with only parts of the
human remains having been selected for interment. Certain sites provide
evidence for several phases of funerary monument preceding the barrow and,
consequently, it is probable that long barrows acted as important ritual sites
for local communities over a considerable period of time. Some 500 long
barrows are recorded in England. As one of the few types of Neolithic
structure to survive as earthworks, and due to their comparative rarity, their
considerable age and their longevity as a monument type, all long barrows are
considered to be nationally important.

Although Harrod Low long barrow has been slightly disturbed by past
agricultural practices, the archaeological remains survive largely intact.

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)
Bray, W, Sketch of a Tour into Derbyshire and Yorkshire, (1775), 239
Hart, C R, Searches for the E Neolithic: A Study Of Peakland Long Cairns, (1986)
Marsden, B M, The Burial Mounds of Derbyshire , (1977), 1
Addy, S O, 'Derbyshire Archaeological Journal' in The Names of the Derbyshire and Staffordshire Barrows, , Vol. 30, (1908), 123-4

Source: Historic England