Section I Tumuli 1821. In February 1821, the Kenslow farm [Map], near Middleton-by-Yolgrave [Map], being planted and otherwise improved, a barrow [Map] was discovered upon the most elevated part of the land. In the nomenclature of Sir R. C. Hoare (age 62), it was a bowl barrow, composed of earth and stones, of about thirty feet in diameter, and its perpendicular height not more than three feet, with the usual shallow cavity on the top, five feet in diameter. The examination was commenced by a transverse section from the south side towards the middle of the tumulus. On approaching about six feet towards the centre a few human bones were discovered, promiscuously blended with those of a small animal, which Dr. Buckland has decided to be of the water rat (Reliquia Diluviana, plate ii, figs. 1, 2, 3, and 12), intermixed with a fine dry sand or mouldy slightly indicating calcination among which was a piece of ivory or bone the one side of which is convex the other flat with two perforations equidistant from the points which probably allowed of its being worn as a pensile ornament from the neck. In the centre of the barrow the rats' bones appeared in large quantities and in digging a little below the level of the natural ground the discovery of the primary deposit was made consisting of two skeletons one entire and the other nearly so laid at full length, about eighteen inches below the surface, in a cist or excavation of the soil, guarded nearly round, but particularly on the south and east sides, by large stones. The bodies had been deposited side by side, with their heads to the north-west; each head was placed in the hollow of a mass of magnesian lime-stone (of which the hill is composed), and reclining on the right side. Neither of them could be conveniently measured, but a thigh-bone was exactly eighteen inches in length, which, in a well-proportioned man, gives a height of about five feet ten inches. It is remarkable that not a tooth was wanting, or in the least decayed, in the jaws of either; and though, in one more particularly, the molars were much worn, as if by the mastication of hard substances, the enamel was still retained. The bones generally were but little decayed. One of the skulls appears to have been that of a man in the decline of life, and exhibits phrenological developments indicative of some of the worst passions incident to human nature. The other skull was crushed on removing the stone on which it lay. Near the bodies, and especially about the heads, a large quantity of the rats' bones and fine mould were strewed, with many round pebbles of various sizes, chiefly of quartz, which, in the opinion of Sir R. C. Hoare (age 62), were used in the sling. On the breast of the entire skeleton lay a circular fibula, or brooch, of copper or bronze. There was also a large quartz pebble and a fragment of pottery of red clay. Between the bodies was placed an axe- or hammer-head of basalt, in a decomposed state, and broken in the middle. In the same situation was found a porphyry slate pebble, highly polished, of very singular shape, four and a half inches in length, the same in medium circumference, the sides triangular and tapering towards the ends, which are rubbed flat. In vol, xii, p. 327, of the "Archæologia" a similar stone is described and engraved which was found in a barrow near Ashford-in-the-Water [Map] by Major Rooke. Behind the head lay a tusk apparently that of a dog and a molar tooth of the lower jaw of a horse. On these little if any decay seemed to have taken place.

Stephen Glover 1831. Between two and three miles north—east of Newhaven, at a little distance beyond the Roman road from Buxton to Little Chester, is one of the most remarkable monuments of antiquity in Derbyshire. This is the Arbor-Low or Arbelows [Map], a druidical circle, surrounded by a ditch and vallum. Its situation, though considerably elevated, is not high as some eminences in the neighbouring country ; yet it commands an extensive view, especially to the north-east. The area, encompassed by the ditch, is about fifty yards in diameter, and of a circularfurm ; though, from a little declination of the ground towards the north, it appears somewhat elliptical, when viewed from particular points. The stones which compose the circle are rough and unhewn masses of limestone, apparently thirty in number; but this cannot be determined with certainty, as several are broken. Most of them are from six to eight feet in length, and three or four broad in the widest part; their thickness is more variable, and their respective shapes are different. They all lie on the ground, and generally in an oblique position; but the opinion that has prevailed, of the narrowest end of each being pointed towards the centre, in order to represent the rays of the sun, and prove that luminary to have been the object of worship, must have arisen from inaccurate observation: for they almost as frequently point towards the ditch as otherwise. Whether they ever stood upright, as most of the stones of druidical circles do, is an enquiry not to determine; though Mr. Pilkington was informed, that a very old man living in Middleton, remembered, when a boy, to have seen them standing obliquely upon one end. This secondary kind of evidence does not seem entitled to much credit as the view of the stones themselves and their relative situations are almost demonstrative of the contrary. Within the circle are some smaller stones scattered irregularly and near the centre are three larger ones erroneously supposed to have once formed a cromlech The width of the ditch which immediately surrounds the area on which the stones are placed is about six yards the height of the bank or vallum on the inside is from six to eight yards but this varies throughout the whole circumference which on the top is nearly two hundred and seventy yards. The vallum seems to have been formed of the earth thrown up from the ditch. To the enclosed area are two entrances each of the width of ten or twelve yards and opening on the north and south. On the east side of the southern entrance is a large barrow standing in the same line of circumference as the vallum but wholly detached excepting at the bottom. This barrow was opened in June 1782 by H Rooke esq and the horns of a stag were discovered in it and June 1 1824 by Mr Samuel Mitchell (age 27) of Sheffield and the engraving here inserted is copied from an accurate drawing made by that gentleman.

Thomas Bateman 1845. The 23d of May, 1845, is an important day in the annals of barrow-digging in Derbyshire, as on that day was made the discovery, so long a desideratum, of the original interment in the large tumulus [Map], which forms one side of the southern entrance to the temple of Arbor Lowe [Map], and which had been unsuccessfully attempted on previous occasions by three parties of antiquaries: first, about 1770, by the occupier of the land whereon the temple is situated; secondly, in 1783, by the celebrated archaeologist. Major Rooke (see p. 31, 1st Jun 1824), who laboured with no effect for three days; and thirdly, on the 1st and 2d of June, 1824, by Mr. Samuel Mitchell (age 42) and Mr. William Bateman, who succeeded no better (see p. 31). But, to return to the narrative. Operations were commenced on the day before mentioned, by cutting across the barrow from the south side towards the centre. A shoulder-blade and an antler of the large red deer were found in this excavation, which also produced an average quantity of rats' bones. On reaching the highest part of the tumulus, which owing to the soil and stones removed in the former excavations, is not in the centre, but more to the south, and is elevated about four yards above the natural soil, a large, flat stone was discovered, about five feet in length by three feet in width, lying in a horizontal position, about eighteen inches higher than the natural floor. This stone being cleared and carefully removed, exposed to view a small six-sided cist, constructed by ten limestones, placed on one end, and having a floor of three similar stones, neatly jointed. It was quite free from soil, the cover having most effectually protected the contents, which were a quantity of calcined human bones, strewed about the floor of the cist, all which were carefully picked up, and amongst them were found a rude kidney-shaped instrument of flint, a pin made from the leg-bone of a small deer, and a piece of spherical iron pyrites.

At the west end of the cist were two urns of coarse clay, each of which was ornamented in a peculiar and widely dissimilar manner. The larger one had fallen to pieces from the effects of time and damp, but has since been restored, and is a very elegant vase; the smaller was taken out quite perfect, and is of much ruder design and workmanship. In addition to these urns, one piece of the ornamented upper edge of another, quite distinct from either of them, was found. The floor of the cist was laid upon the natural soil and the cist was strewed with rats' bones, both within and without.