On this Day in History ... 28 August

Evelyn's Diary. 28 Aug 1670. One of the Canons preached; then followed the offering of the Knights of the Order, according to custom; first the poor Knights, in procession, then, the Canons in their formalities, the Dean and Chancellor, then his Majesty (age 40) (the Sovereign), the Duke of York (age 36), Prince Rupert (age 50); and, lastly, the Earl of Oxford (age 43), being all the Knights that were then at Court.

Thomas Bateman 1846. On the 29th of August 1846. The barrow at Cow Lowe [Map], near Buxton, was opened; although a little disturbed on the surface by the operations of stone-getters, the interments were quite intact. The number and importance of these deposits render needful a minute description of most of them, and a chronological arrangement will make each particular much more intelligible; by the latter system, we commence with the presumed primary interment, then tracing each succeeding one, in the order in which it was inhumed, instead of relating the particulars of each, in the rotation in which they were brought to light by the spade. Upon the floor of the barrow, which slightly exceeded the depth of four feet from the summit, was laid apparently the primitive interment, covered over with a large flat stone, but not inclosed in a cist; it was the body of a person of small stature, probably a female, with the knees contracted; it altogether rested upon a layer of calcined human bones, amongst which was found a bone pin, which had been perforated at the thicker end, but now broken, and part of a dog's head, also several horses' teeth; a few inches higher up, the whole of the centre of the tumulus was covered with human bones, unaccompanied by anything worthy of notice, if we except a few pieces of an urn, coarse, both in material and workmanship. The number of jaw-bones belonging to different skeletons in this part of the barrow was five, though it is probable that a greater number of individuals were here interred. About a foot higher than these, and slightly out of the centre of the barrow, was a small cist, made of stones set edgeways, which contained the bones of a female in the usual contracted position, with which were two sets of Kimmeridge coal beads (one hundred and seventeen in number), of very neat workmanship; the central ornaments are in this case made of the same material as the beads, though it will be remembered that, in the similar ornament found at Wind Lowe [Map], the central plates were of bone or ivory; a faintly marked diamond pattern is discernible upon the plates of shale; with these lay a fine instrument of calcined flint, of the circular-ended form; a few of the beads lay on the outside of the cist, where was part of the skeleton of a child, to whom possibly one set of beads might belong, or, what is more probable, that they were disturbed at the time of the construction of the hexagonal cell, which was placed partly upon the cist pertaining to the lady, at a slightly higher level; in it were deposited two skeletons, one above the other, much crushed up in order to accommodate them to the confined limits of the cell; with the lower one was a neatly ornamented urn of unbaked clay, much decayed and broken. The latest and most interesting interment, which may be attributed to the Romano-British period, or perhaps by some antiquaries to the early Saxon era, lay in the centre of the harrow, and about midway between the surface of the natural ground and the top of the former; the bones were mostly decayed, so much indeed, as to leave no trace except the teeth, and a small portion of the cranium; near which, probably about the neck, were two pins of gold, connected by a chain of the same, of remarkably neat design and execution; the heads of the pins contain a setting of many coloured glass, platted upon a chequered gold foil; close to them, and apparently having slipped off the chain, by a large bead of blue glass. The earth for a few feet from this place appeared to have been tempered with water, or puddled, at the time of the funeral, which gave it a very solid and undisturbed appearance; this, coupled with the absence of bones, makes it difficult to decide near what part of body the following articles were originally placed; they were about eighteen inches distant from the pins, which were certainly close to the head. These articles had been inclosed in a wooden box, made of ash plank half an inch in thickness, which was wrapped in a woollen cloth, the warp of which is perfectly visible; the hinges of this casket (two in number) are of brass, and were fastened with brass pins, which were clenched upon a piece of stout leather in the inside of the box; it was fastened by a brass hasp of similar type to the hinges, which received a small staple, to which was hung an iron padlock; it contained a small vessel of thick green glass, an ivory comb much decayed, some instruments of iron, a piece of perforated ivory, apparently the end of some utensil, which was encircled by a brass hoop at the time of its discovery, but which fell to dust on exposure, and a neck decoration of various pensile ornaments, eleven in number; the centre one is of blue porcelain or glass, with three serpents in white; it is retained in a setting of silver, with vandyked edges, on either side of this is a spiral wire bead of electrum, whilst the suit is made up of small circular pendants of silver, extremely thin, each having a level back and a convex front, and each stamped out of a separate piece; of these the number is eight, and with the exception of one, which has a beaded circle running round it, are all struck from the same die, a small flaw being visible on each; the box also contained a dog's or fox's tooth; and a short distance above the body, in the same tempered earth, lay a portion of the horn of the red deer. In various parts of the tumulus, but not in situations where they could be allotted with certainty to any of the interments, were found a scattered deposit of burnt bones, a bead of Kimmeridge coal, of more globular form than the others, much worn, a neat pin of bone, a pointed instrument of the same, apparently a lance-head, and the usual chippings of flint, and rats' bones.

Note. Necklace, possibly, from Cow Low on display at Weston Park Museum, Sheffield.

After 28 Aug 1861 Thomas Bateman (age 39) was buried in unconsecrated ground at his request at Middleton-by-Youlgreave [Map].