Details

Cross Low bowl barrow is a roughly circular cairn located on Cross Low Bank in
the south-western ridges of the limestone plateau of Derbyshire. The monument
includes a mound measuring c.20m by 18m and standing c.1m high. This was
partially excavated by Thomas Bateman in 1843 and found to contain a crouched
skeleton in a rough cist which also contained a fragment of stone axe and the
cremated remains of two infants. Both the inhumation and the cremations were
accompanied by ceremonial food vessels indicating a Bronze Age date for the
barrow. Five other skeletons were found alongside the cist, one being
accompanied by a food vessel and a bone pin. Another skeleton found nearer the
surface would have been a secondary insertion and indicates an extended period
of use for the barrow. Excluded from the scheduling are the walls crossing the
edges of the monument, although the ground beneath them is included.

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.

Despite some disturbance caused by excavation, Cross Low bowl barrow is still
a reasonably well preserved example containing further significant
archaeological remains.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Abercromby, J, Bronze Age Pottery of the British Isles, (1912), 116
Barnatt, J, The Peak District Barrow Survey (1989), (1989)
Barnatt, J, The Peak District Barrow Survey (1989), (1989)
Bateman, T, Vestiges of the Antiquities of Derbyshire, (1849), 49
Marsden, B M, The Burial Mounds of Derbyshire , (1977), 31
Fowler, M, 'Derbyshire Archaeological Journal' in The Transition from the Late Neolithic...in the Peak District, (1955)
Manby, T G, 'Derbyshire Archaeological Journal' in Food Vessels of the Peak District (1957), , Vol. 77, (1957), 1-29

Source: Historic England