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Minninglow - The Barrows In The Trees

Minninglow - The Barrows In The Trees

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EPISODE 2: “Minninglow: The Barrows in the Trees”

High on a limestone hill, beneath a crown of plantation spruce, lies one of Derbyshire’s oldest monuments to the dead. Minninglow is a multi-phase prehistoric site — a Neolithic long barrow later joined by Bronze Age round barrows — where ancestral memory was built into the landscape across more than a thousand years.
In this episode, we explore collective burial, curated bones, ceremonial objects, and the strange quietness of a place that modern walkers treat with instinctive respect. From Arbor Low’s ritual circle to Minninglow’s barrowed dead, a prehistoric network begins to emerge — one shaped not by warfare, but by ancestry, visibility, and landscape.
**Hidden Derbyshire: Landscapes of Time**A documentary storytelling podcast about the places where history, folklore, and landscape intersect.


EPISODE 2 — MINNINGLOWARCHAEOLOGY SOURCES & REFERENCES (APPENDIX)Primary Excavation & Survey Sources
  • Bateman, Thomas (1848–1861). Vestiges of the Antiquities of Derbyshire + excavation notebooks.
  • — Early investigations of Minninglow’s long barrow and associated round barrows; human remains + pottery + flint documented.
  • Barnatt, John (1990). The Henges, Stone Circles and Ringcairns of the Peak District.
  • — Places Minninglow within broader Peak District prehistoric landscapes.
  • Barnatt, J. & Collis, J. (eds.) (1996). Barrows in the Peak District.
  • — Essential synthesis of Neolithic + Bronze Age burial mounds; Minninglow case studies.
  • Barnatt, J. & Smith, K. (2004). The Peak District: Landscapes Through Time.
  • — Landscape archaeology & chronology.
  • Derbyshire Archaeological Journal (late 19th–early 20th century entries).
  • — Antiquarian measurements, mapping, context notes.
Chronology & Typology
  • Minninglow as composite monument:
  • ✔ Neolithic long barrow (~3800–3400 BC)
  • ✔ Bronze Age round barrows (~2200–1500 BC)
  • Sequencing consistent with regional transitions from collective burials → individual/elite burials.
  • Disarticulated skeletal remains align with Neolithic secondary burial practice.
Mortuary & Material Culture

Key interpretive works:

  • Whittle, A. (1997). Sacred Mound, Holy Rings.
  • — Long barrows as collective ancestral sites.
  • Parker Pearson, M. (1993 & 2005). Works on mortuary practice & ancestor cults.
  • — Explores “curated remains” theory—fits Minninglow evidence.
  • Thomas, J. (1999). Understanding the Neolithic.
  • — Collective identity & material symbolism.
Landscape Studies
  • Evans, J. (2004). Landscape and Society in Prehistoric Britain.
  • Edmonds, M. (1999). Ancestral Geographies of the Neolithic.
  • — Visibility studies + ritual landscape context.
  • Noted sightlines between Minninglow ↔ Arbor Low supported by Barnatt (1990).
Folklore & Post-Medieval Layers

Minninglow’s folklore is limited — unlike Nine Ladies or Arbor Low.

Victorian sources frame it as:

  • “Picturesque ruin”
  • “Country curiosity”
  • “Estate ornamentation” after the 18th–19th c. forestry plantation

Sources:

  • Glover, S. (1829). History of the County of Derby.
  • Estate maps & planting schemes (private archives; referenced via Barnatt & Smith, 2004).
Forestry & Modern Access
  • Plantation dates vary by estate records but generally 18th c. onward
  • Current access via High Peak Trail → heritage/ramblers documentation via:
  • Peak District National Park Authority
  • High Peak Trail guides
  • Local rights-of-way documentation




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