Source/Archive record SCH9335 - The Seven Lows prehistoric barrow cemetery, Fishpool Lane, Delamere, Cheshire: a reassessment

Excavation in 2012 of a barrow near Delamere provided an opportunity to examine its form, function and date. It was tentatively identified as a saucer barrow that seems to have formed the nucleus of a barrow cemetery known as the Seven Lows. Four secondary cremation burials in Collared Urns were recovered, representing four or five adult individuals. Radiocarbon dates indicate that the barrow was in use for up to 450 years during the Bronze Age. However, the recovery of late Neolithic Grooved Ware may suggest an earlier origin. This barrow and two of its neighbours had been descheduled on the presumption that they had been destroyed through repeated ploughing and that they were of limited significance. The excavation has shown that this judgement was incorrect and provides a valuable lesson regarding suppositions about ploughed-out barrows.