Details

Wolfscote Hill bowl barrow is a large, well preserved barrow situated on the
highest point of Wolfscote Hill and visible over a very wide area. Located on
the south-western ridges of the limestone plateau of Derbyshire, the monument
includes a sub-circular cairn measuring 26m by 24.5m, standing c.2m high and
encircled by a rock-cut ditch c.4m wide. Partial excavations carried out by
Bateman in 1843 or 1844 and Carrington in 1851 revealed a roofless cist
containing two child skeletons and a food vessel. The centre of the barrow
was found to have been disturbed prior to the excavations and contained many
scattered bones and the fragments of two urns. A single edge-set stone, or
orthostat, can also be seen within the cairn. Excluded from the scheduling is
the Ordnance Survey trig point located near the centre of the monument but the
ground beneath it is included.

MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
It includes a 5 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 partial disturbance due to excavation, Wolfscote Hill bowl barrow is
still a well preserved example containing further significant archaeological
remains. Unusually for this region, it is ditched.

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), 47
Marsden, B M, The Burial Mounds of Derbyshire, (1986), 49
Pilkington, J, A View of the Present State of Derbyshire, (1789), 290

Source: Historic England