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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