Five Wells is a

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

chambered tomb A chambered cairn is a burial monument, usually constructed during the Neolithic British Isles, Neolithic, consisting of a sizeable (usually stone) chamber around and over which a cairn of stones was constructed. Some chambered cairns are also pas ...

between the villages of Chelmorton and Taddington on Taddington Moor in the

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

Peak District The Peak District is an Highland, upland area in central-northern England, at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire, it extends into Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire. It is subdivi ...

in England. The tomb is a protected

scheduled ancient monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...

. Three stones mark the main chamber, which has been dramatically reduced; a second less well-preserved chamber is to the west. The burial mound is over in diameter and was first excavated by the local archaeologist Thomas Bateman in 1846. The chambers have paved floors. Bateman discovered the remains of at least twelve human skeletons. Subsequent excavations (by

Llewellyn Jewitt Llewellynn Frederick William Jewitt (or Llewellyn) (24 November 1816 – 5 June 1886) was a British illustrator, engraver, natural scientist and author of ''The Ceramic Art of Great Britain'' (1878). His output was prodigious and covered a ...

, William Lukis and Micah Salt between 1862 and 1901) found further human remains, pottery and flint tools in the chambers and passages and a separate

cist In archeology, a cist (; also kist ; ultimately from ; cognate to ) or cist grave is a small stone-built coffin-like box or ossuary used to hold the bodies of the dead. In some ways, it is similar to the deeper shaft tomb. Examples occur ac ...

(stone coffin) within the mound. Access can be made on foot via a permitted path from Pillwell Gate to the west. Access along the permitted path can also be made from the

Limestone Way The Limestone Way is a waymarked long-distance Rights of way in England and Wales, footpath in Derbyshire, England. It runs for through the White Peak of the Peak District National Park, from Castleton, Derbyshire, Castleton south to Rocester ...

long-distance footpath, which runs along Sough Lane to the east.

References

{{European Standing Stones, state=collapsed Megalithic monuments in England Stone Age sites in England Archaeological sites in Derbyshire Buildings and structures in Derbyshire Tourist attractions in Derbyshire Scheduled monuments in Derbyshire Tombs in the United Kingdom Derbyshire Dales