A HISTORY OF DERBYSHIRE 



perfect condition to begin with, while apart from this the explorations 

 have often been insufficient and the descriptions inexact. In spite of 

 these drawbacks, however, the Derbyshire barrows are susceptible of 

 satisfactory classification. They fall into three divisions: (i) a small 

 number containing megalithic chambers, and with general consent 

 assigned to the Neolithic stage of culture ; (2) a large and varied group 

 which belong to the Bronze stage ; and (3) a few which are of late 

 type, if not actually referable to the period of the Roman occupation. 

 These groups, it should be remarked, merge into one another by transi- 

 tional forms, and there is a residue which from insufficient data cannot 

 be assigned to any particular class. 



Chambered Barrows. About a dozen barrows now existing in the 

 county, or which have existed within the last century, may, with more 

 or less certainty, be placed under this head. The three which have 

 yielded the best results are at Mininglow and Harborough Rocks near 

 Brassington, and Five- Wells near Taddington. All three, unfortunately, 

 were in an exceedingly ruined condition when they first attracted archae- 

 ological notice, but by piecing together the fragmentary evidence they 

 have afforded, a fair idea may be gained of their original state. As the 

 Five- Wells barrow is the least ruined, and has recently been thoroughly 

 explored by Mr. Salt and the writer, some account of this will now be 

 given. 1 



The mound is circular, about 56 feet in diameter, and is constructed 

 of quarried stones, laid in courses, so disposed at the margin as to form a 

 vertical wall-like podium, still remaining in places to the height of 3 

 feet. Near the middle are the remains of two chambers, each about 

 6 feet long, constructed of great slabs of stone resting upon the old 

 natural surface. Each had a paved floor, and was reached by a gallery 

 which had an abrupt porthole-like entrance in the podium, one on each 

 side of the mound, thus contrasting with the incurved entrances observed 

 elsewhere. Each chamber was somewhat wedge-shaped, the wider end 

 being that into which the gallery opened ; and immediately within this 

 wider end were two pillar-like stones, one on each side, which struc- 

 turally formed the last pair of side stones of the gallery, but they differed 

 from the others in their greater height. The writer has suggested that 

 between these ' pillars ' was placed a drop-stone, which when raised to 

 allow of access to the chamber was received into the upper space. 



The Mininglow barrow, the largest in the county, is also circular, 

 and seems to have had five chambers, ot which at least two closely 

 resembled the above, except that they appear to have lacked the ' pillars.' 

 Mr. Thomas Bateman, 2 who examined this barrow in 1843, discovered 

 that it had a podium similar to that of Five- Wells, and he traced one of 

 the galleries to its orifice in this podium. Had he pushed his investiga- 

 tions further it is probable he would have found that the mound was 



1 ReRq. and lllus. Arch. vii. 229. 

 * Vestiges, p. 39 ; Ten Tears' Diggings, pp. 54, 82. 



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