Section I Tumuli 1844. On the 6th of August 1844 was opened a most interesting barrow upon Wardlow Common which is known by the name of Rolley Lowe [Map]; it is a mound of considerable magnitude, being forty-five feet in diameter, and five feet in height at the centre. As the discoveries made in this barrow are of a very miscellaneous character, and of various dates, it will be the most simple course to record them in the order in which they occurred: in the course of the central excavation, in which all the relics were found, about a foot from the surface, and dispersed amongst the soil which was found to be unmingled with stones to the depth of eighteen inches, were found a few human bones and teeth, and a third brass coin of Constantino the Great; near the bottom of this upper stratum of soil, where it began to be slightly mixed with stones, a brass pin, two inches and three quarters in length, square at the thicker end for insertion into a handle, was found. About three feet from the surface of the mound, a central area about eight feet in diameter was discovered, which seemed to be walled out in a circular form, and divided into five partitions by large limestones, so as to exhibit a ground plan similar to a roulette-table. There was no appearance of any of these vaults having been protected by coverings; when discovered, each was filled with small stones, amongst which lay the skeletons, which occupied all these partitions, whilst in one was also an urn. But to resume the particulars in the order before stated; in the first examined recess was a human skeleton, minus the head but complete in other respects; with this interment was deposited the under jaw of a child; in the next compartment was a skeleton without any accompaniment: in the following cist was a large and coarse urn, inverted over a deposit of calcined human bones, amongst which was a large red deer's horn, also calcined; the urn was about sixteen inches in height, and twelve in diameter; and, owing to its size and fragile texture, was broken to pieces in the attempt made to remove it; near the urn was a skeleton with a fine and well-preserved skull. In the last examined division, which was the northern-most, lay a human skeleton, with which were deposited a large horn from the red deer, and the jaw of an otter. Proceeding down about a foot lower than the level upon which all these skeletons were laid, another skeleton was found laid upon a large stone, on the level of the natural soil; it was accompanied by three rude instruments of flint, and the head lay directly beneath the large urn before mentioned: the stone in question measured in length six feet, and in breadth about four feet, being upon the surface of the ground it was at first thought to be rock but a piece being broken off, disclosed to view a sight such as is seldom witnessed by the barrow-digger, and which repays him for his frequent disappointments; this was a cist or vault, three feet in length, two feet in width, and eighteen inches in depth, formed of four smooth limestone slabs, having a fifth as a pavement, all the angles and joints having been so effectually secured by a pointing of tenacious clay, that not a particle of soil had entered this primitive coffin, the workmanship of which was in every respect neat and accurate. It was tenanted by a skeleton with contracted knees, whose bones, though much decayed, lay in the posture they had assumed on the decomposition of their fleshy covering; in the rear of the skeleton, was laid on one side a highly ornamented urn, of rude but chaste design, and in various situations in the cist were found two very neat arrow-heads of flint, of uncommon form, a large tusk of the wild boar, seven inches in length, and a piece of tempered clay, to which adhered some fragments of decayed wood. The excavation for the vault was made in the natural soil, and from the floor of the cist to the summit of the tumulus was at least six feet six inches. The undermentioned articles, which did not appear to be connected with any of the interments, were found in various situations, throughout the interior of the barrow; namely, a fragment of an ornamented drinking-cup, a spear-head of coarse flint, and similar workmanship, a few animal teeth, and rats' bones "ad infinitum." The outer circumference of the major part of this barrow was constructed of some description of clayey composition, which had become as hard as a turnpike road.

Wardlow Barrow 1 Account. Full title: XC. An Account of a remarkable Monument found near Ashford in Derbyshire: In a Letter from the Reverend Mr. Evatt, of Afhford, to Mr . Whitehurft, of Derby. Communicated by Benjamin Franklin, LL.D. F. R. S.

Dear Sir, Ashford, October 5, 1761.

Read 13 May 1761.

The following is the best account I am able to give you of the curiosity I told you of, discovered some time ago in our neighbourhood; to which I have added, an imperfect drawing, that, I hope, Will, notwithstanding, give you a tolerable idea of it.

In the year 1759, as fome people were making a turnpike-road through the village of Wardlow, near this place, they thought proper to take out of an adjoining field, a heap of ftone, that had lain there time immemorial, and without any tradition, that I could find, why it was thrown together in that place, although it was manifeft it was a work of art. Here, to their great furprize, upoh removing the ftone, they found a monument [Map], to the memory of feventeen perfons, or more, who had been there interred, in the manner exprdled in the drawing annexed. [Vide Tab. XV.]

The bodies appeared to have been laid upon the furface of the ground, upon long flat ftones, and their heads and breafts protected from the incumbent weight of ftone, by fmall walls made round them, with a flat ftone over the top, as I have endeavoured to exprefs in the figures, excepting the two capital ones, marked a, a, which were walled up, and covered from head to foot, in the form of a long chest, with a stone cover over each.

Upon removing the rubbish, many bones, such as jaw-bones, teeth, and the like, were found undecayed; but none at all of the larger bones of the body, that I could learn. The heap of stones, that covered them, was 32 yards in diameter, and about five feet high; and the stones, of which the coffins, or tombs, were composed, appear, very plainly, to have been taken from a stone quarry, above a quarter of a mile distant. In the drawing, you see a part of the circle is vacant; but it is probable it was not so, as there were found several bones and teeth in that space; the cause might be, that as part lay next the road, it might have met with an accidental difturbance; or, what is yet more likely, the people that came to lead the stone away, beginning on that side of it, destroyed that part, before they were aware that it was any-ways remarkable, or worthy note.

There is one circumstance, that seems to denote the monument to have been rather modern; which is this. It appears, from the best observations I could make, that the wall, marked 4 , was erected before the monument was made, as I think it hardly probable, that the persons, who built it, would be at the trouble to remove that part of the circle, that was without, for the fake of building a field-wall, entirely level; which is the cafe, for all that portion of the circle, from the infide of the wall, was as level as any other part of the field: and as walls, I apprehend, are not of very antient date here, (if the above be a fact) I cannot help concluding, that the monument mull have been erected in fome or other of the wars of the houfes of York and Lancafter, or later. But this is only conjecture, and muft be fubmitted to the judgment of the more curious, or thofe who may have heard of, or feen, fome fimilar ones; for my part, in my reading, I have not met with any thing at all like it. The feveral coffins were about two feet high each; the two complete ones about 7.6 long each; and the others had the fiat ftone nearly the lame length; but the covering extended only as far as the breaft.

hefe are all the particulars I am now able to give you, of this remarkable monument. It is now totally deftroyed. If any of your friends, to whom you may, poffibly, communicate this, could afcertain, in any meafure, the date of it, Ihould be extremely glad to hear it from you, as, I think, it would greatly affill me in tracing fome other remarkable curiolities in our neighbourhood, by way of preparation for a natural hiftory of this part of our county.

I am.

Dear Sir,

Your sincere friend,

and humble servant,

Samuel Evatt.

XCI. Dejcriptia

Section I Tumuli 1765. About a mile west of the village of Winster, on the right hand side of the road leading from that place to Pike Hall, once stood a barrow [Map], generally known by the name of White Lowe, which was destroyed in the year 1765 or 1766, by the farmer to whose share it fell, upon the inclosure of the common on which it was situate. On this occasion one of the most interesting and valuable discoveries ever made in the county was casually brought to light; and it is much to be regretted that no systematic account of it was written at the time, and correct draughts of the objects taken, which is now impossible, as one article alone exists of all the valuable deposit (now in the possession of Mr. John Mander, of Bakewell). Such is the dearth of information upon this subject, that little more than a list of the articles can be furnished; premising, however, that they were found in the centre of the barrow, and upon the level of the natural soil, whether in company with a skeleton or not there is no evidence. The list is as follows: two large globular urns, seventeen inches in height and about thirteen in circumference (quere diameter); two glass vessels, about nine inches in height, with wide circular mouths, and a slight bulge in the middle: they were made of yellow glass, extremely thin and light, and when discovered contained about a pint of clear green water; several variegated beads, square and round, both of glass and earthenware; a large bracelet of silver, about an inch broad, joining at the ends in dovetail fashion, and studded with human heads; figures of animals, &c., which were affixed by rivets; also a large circular fibula of gold, set with garnets, or red glass, which was strengthened by being riveted upon a plate of silver, which was assigned to the close of the fifth century by that distinguished antiquary the Rev. James Douglas. In the barrow the glass vessels were placed on each side of the urns, and the other ornaments were lying near them; around them were remains of decayed wood, and pieces of brass in the form of clasps and hinges, which would indicate that the more precious articles had been deposited in a box.

It is highly probable that a small cross of pute gold in the author's museum was discovered in the preceding barrow; the style of workmanship is almost identical with that of the circular fibula just mentioned. It is engraved as a vignette on page 67 of Douglas's 'Nenia Britannica' and by that learned antiquary is considered, notwithstanding its crucial form, to be of an era anterior to the introduction of Christianity into Britain. The only circumstances connected with its discovery that are now to be depended upon are these: it was found in the process of demolishing a tumulus on Winster Common, about the year 1767, and was bought from the labourer who was so fortunate as to find it by the Rev. John Mason, then curate of Winster, who had a taste for antiquities.

Winster. On the 13th of October, in consequence of information kindly communicated by Miss Worsley, I went to Winster, a small town about six miles from Bakewell, to see an interment [Winster Barrow [Map]] that had been accidentally discovered by removing a bank of earth in the garden of that lady. There was no external indication of such a deposit having been made, and if any mound had existed it would probably be levelled when the garden was laid out. The bones had been disturbed by the labourers previous to my visit, but it was observed that tbe body bad been placed on the natural surface in a contracted posture, with the head to the north-east; by examining the contents of the grave, it appeared that the deceased had been accompanied by an iron spear head and the lower stone of a quern or hand-mill, the former was broken by the finders. The body was covered with large stones of the same sorts as may be met with in the neighbourhood, yet evidently collected from different places, there being grey waterworn limestones from the surface of the land and other black limestones of a shaly texture that had clearly been quarried. The earth whereon the skeleton lay, exhibited traces of a large fire, and among the ashes were a few particles of calcined bone, together with the remains of wood; many of the stones, including the quern, had also been in the fire. The height of the earth above them was near 5 feet, and it appeared to be quite free from any other stones. I observed the lower jaw of an ox lying about, which was found during the progress of the work, but could not learn that it was connected with the interment, though from discoveries of former years, I am induced to think that it would be. A second interment of similar character was discovered on the following day, about 3 yards further in the bank of earth; the mode of sepulture was in every way identical with the former, and the bones having been, by the judicious kindness of Miss Worsley, preserved untouched for my inspection, I was enabled by removing them myself to make the following observations as to the manner of burial:- A large wood fire was made upon the natural surface, in which the stones used for covering the body, and part at least of the weapons of the deceased, were first burnt, as is abundantly clear from their present condition; after the fire was exhausted, the body was laid on the spot where it had been kindled, upon its right side with the knees drawn up, and the head pointing to the north-east; at the head was placed a small vessel of very coarse and unornamented pottery, much decayed when found; and at the back of the skeleton were laid a very large iron spear head of coarse workmanship, of the unusual length of 2 feet, found with the point towards the feet of the skeleton; a small curved instrument of iron, 5 inches long, originally inserted in a wooden handle, the bone ferule of which still remains; and a bead-formed ring of stoneware or porcelain, 1½ inch diameter, slightly ornamented with two incised lines round the outer edge, and two recessed places, which, but for its brittleness, might have received a pin to constitute it a fibula. After the completion of these arrangements, the stones having been burnt, were carefully placed over the corpse, and earth was finally heaped over the whole to the height of between 4 and 5 feet. It is very remarkable, that amongst the stones around this interment, was found the upper half of the same hand-mill, the lower stone of which was buried with the first skeleton; it is a very neatly wrought example of the bee-hive shaped quern, having both a funnel shaped hopper for the reception of the grain, and a hole at the side for the handle; it is made from the millstone grit of the neighbourhood, obtained probably from Harthill Moor, not more than two miles distant, a locality where numerous pieces of similar querns have been from time to time turned up by cultivating the land. From the great heat to which it had been exposed it was split into several pieces. The human bones were much decayed in consequence, I think, of the corpse having been interred whilst the grave and the surrounding stones were hot; perhaps, however, some more recondite cause must be sought to account for their nearer approximation to their original dust, than those of the other skeleton, which were undoubtedly of contemporary date.

Note A. far as I can judge, both skeletons were of men of ordinary stature, and it is singular that interments of this late period should have been deposited in the ancient contracted position.

I noticed in the last grave one or two bits of calcined bone, and the unburnt tooth of a sheep. The jaws and other bones of a dog, and some shapeless fragments of iron, were found in the earth a little above the interment, before my arrival; and I would observe that another specimen of the large and heavy spear, which consists of a wide socket terminating in a blade, the section of which is rectangular, found in the Thames near Kingston, is in the collection at Lomberdale House [Map], where the foregoing relics are also deposited, by the liberality of Miss Worsley, and her brother, Charles Worsley, Esq.