Transactions of the British Archaeological Association August 1845 Pages 192-195

Primeval Antiquities of Stanton And Hart-Hill Moors, near Bakewell, Derbyshire. By Thomas Bateman, Jun.

The account of some Druidical remains discovered in this neighbourhood by the late Hayman Rooke, Esq., and read before the Society of Antiquaries, April 6th, 1780, although generally correct, by no means interferes with the propriety of a more detailed report; especially, as since that period other discoveries have been made of equal, if not greater importance. Sixty-five years ago, the country is described as "a wild uncultivated waste, very high land, rocky, and producing a coarse kind of sedgy grass;" now it is covered with thriving plantations, and crops of waving corn and hay, rivalling the more favoured parts of the county; and the ancient barrow, and even the Druidical temple, will be sought in vain by the uninitiated, under the present changed aspect of the scenery.

It is not my intention to dwell upon those points which have engaged the attention of previous archaeologists, but only to embody so much of their narrative as may be necessary to illustrate the subject—a description of scenery being rather the province of the tourist than the antiquary:—Consequently, the Rowter or Birchoven rocks, however admired for their picturesque appearance, must, in the present instance, yield precedence to Bradley, the opposite hill, where a rocking stone, pronounced by major Rooke to be a "Stone Deity," demands our notice. This, it appears, from a note by the late W. Bateman, esq., was thrown down on Whit-Sunday, 1799, by a party of fourteen young men, in which state it lay till the 16th of June, 1826, when it was replaced; and was again thrown down by two young men on the following day—it is, however, reinstated. The Rock basins, as they have been designated, which abound in this neighbourhood, appear to me to be neither more nor less than the natural effects produced by the combined action of the atmosphere, and time, the grand destroyer, upon the exposed surface of the rock.

The Druid temple of Nine Stones, on Stanton Moor, about half a mile from Rowter; known to the country people as the Nine Ladies [Map]; and which, although an undoubted early British remain, is scarcely of sufficient magnitude to entitle it to the designation of a temple, — being only eleven yards in diameter,—is now completely hidden in a plantation of firs; and the cairns in the neighbourhood, in which bones and glass beads were found a century ago, are levelled with the surrounding soil. It is remarkable that, about half a mile west of the Nine Ladies, there exists a similar circle of stones, in a close called Nine-stone close [Map]; four only, however, at present (1845) remain erect (although six existed as late as 1824). These, probably, have a reference to the mystic number 9, and may have been cenotaphs, if not cemeteries, of the chief Druids. About two hundred yards from this spot, in an adjoining field, a fine brass celt, weighing twenty-four ounces, was dug up in 1824, and is now in my possession.

Of Graned Tor, or Mock Beggars Hall, better known as Robin Hood's Stride [Map], several descriptions and views have been published: but a correct sketch of its present appearance, as well as of some of the antiquities recently discovered in the immediate neighbourhood, cannot fail to be interesting. There is every reason to believe, as the detail of articles found by myself, or collected in the neighbourhood, will prove, that the early Britons, the Romans, and the Saxons, successively occupied the entire neighbourhood; and although the sacred grove of the Druid, or the Roman earthwork, may have given way to the progress of cultivation and improvement,—the sterner monuments of their religion, together with the kist, the urn, the celt, and an occasional Roman coin, survive to illustrate their history.

It will readily be supposed, that a spot so immediately in my own neighbourhood, so rich in traditionary lore, as well as productive in tangible proofs of primeval occupation, could not fail to excite in me a lively interest; and, notwithstanding the scrutiny of previous investigators, the drawings now submitted to this meeting, with the accompanying journal of proceedings, will shew that I indulged in no "baseless fabric of a vision."

On the 12th of June [1845] last, having been informed by Mr. Wain, the occupier, that one of his labourers had discovered, at the foot of Robin Hood's Stride, [Harthill Moor Barrow 1 [Map]] an urn inverted over a deposit of burnt bones; and that gentleman having most kindly and judiciously ordered them to stay proceedings till he had communicated the circumstance to me,—accompanied by the Rev. Stephen Isaacson, my fellow-labourer on so many interesting occasions, I proceeded to the spot, with the determination of making the most minute and careful investigation. After removing the pieces of the above-mentioned urn, which was of exceedingly rude workmanship, a cutting was made through the centre of the barrow, in which two most elaborately wrought urns, much broken, but since restored in the style exhibited in the accompanying illustration, were found, as well as a large deposit of burnt bones. On the south side of the centre of the barrow, our operations were obstructed by an immense stone, having all the appearance of natural rock, near the edge of which lay a considerable quantity of burnt bones, two rude instruments of flint, two most elegant cups, of novel form, and superior in style of ornament to any hitherto discovered, at least in Derbyshire, and which, in all probability, were used as incense cups, or on solemn Druidical festivals (see illustration). On continuing our researches, we discovered, at the edge of the large stone previously described, the top of another, erected edgeways, which at once convinced us, that we had fallen in with an extraordinarily large cist. This proved to be filled with fine sand, with which were mingled large quantities of calcined human bones, and some small pieces of urn; the whole having been originally laid on a bed of heather—a most singular, and, we believe, hitherto unheard of circumstance.

The cist, which may be called a miniature cromlech, was upwards of three feet in height, and about four feet six inches square in the interior, whilst the covering stone was at least seven fect square by two thick, and presented, when fully exposed to view, a very striking appearance. A sketch of this forms the vignette on the title of the poem of the Barrow-diggers.

On the 14th of June, having received information of the discovery of a second cist on the same spot [Harthill Moor Barrow 1 [Map]], Mr. Isaacson (in consequence of my necessary absence in Staffordshire), proceeded thither by himself, and at a slight distance from the surface found a small cist about two feet long by one in width, nearly forming a perfect parallellogram. A few fragments of pottery, one of which formed part of the top of the large urn, which covered the deposit mentioned above, presented themselves in the course of the excavation; whilst in the interior were found a large quantity of burnt bones, but neither flint nor any other article.

On the 25th of June, a mound of earth with every appearance of a barrow, having been pointed out near the base of the celebrated British encampment on Hart Hill, Mr. Isaacson and I determined to prove it, and this is the only instance in which we have been deceived. Being, however, disappointed in our expectations, it was resolved to take a survey of Robin Hood's Stride, where, on several previous occasions, we had casually noticed fragments of Roman pottery scratched out of the soil by the burrowing of rabbits. On trying the mount in various directions, numerous portions of Roman urns were met with, and a third brass coin of Tetricus, in good preservation.

Independently of these discoveries, of which I myself have been an eye-witness, I have in my collection several stone celts, querns, rollers, whetstones, and various specimens of pottery of remote dates, which fully bear out the assumption with which I commenced, and lead me to hope, that by our next Congress, I shall be enabled to detail further interesting and important discoveries in the same locality.

Before I conclude, I wish to venture a few brief remarks on the British encampment above mentioned: and as the observations of major Rooke are in this instance perfectly correct, even as to the present appearance of the works, I subjoin his notice, with a few verbal alterations. The erection of a dry stone wall, however, it may be well to observe, on the inner vallum, has, to a casual observer, somewhat changed its aspect.

"This circular British work, called Castle Ring, is surrounded by a deep ditch and double vallum; the entrance is very visible on the south-east side, where part of the vallum has been levelled by the plough. The dimensions are 243 ft. by 156 ft. As no coins or Roman utensils have been found near it, there seem to be | sufficient grounds for pronouncing it a British and not a Roman encampment. It has been thought by some to have been a Danish work: certain it is that the Danes secured themselves for some time in Derby, after they had driven out the Saxons; but as | this place is a great distance from that town, from its vicinity to | many Druidical remains, I should rather suppose it to be British.” On this point, both Mr. Isaacson and myself are fully satisfied. With respect to being Roman, it does not possess one single feature | which characterizes the works of that mighty people; nor, as far as any information has reached us, can it with greater propriety be assigned to the Dane or Saxon. Whilst, in every feature, it harmonizes with the description of early British hill forts, and may, without doubt, be pronounced a work of the primeval inhabitants of Derbyshire.