Description

Heath Wood contains a series of 59 barrows and is a Viking burial site near Ingleby, Derbyshire. They are unusual because they are the only known Scandinavian cremation

Cremation

Cremation is the process of reducing bodies to basic chemical compounds such as gasses and bone fragments. This is accomplished through high-temperature burning, vaporization and oxidation....

 site in the British Isles. It is believed to be a war cemetery of the Viking Great Army which arrived in England between 873-8 A.D. Early excavations by Thomas Bateman

Thomas Bateman

Thomas Bateman was an English antiquary and barrow-digger.-Biography:Thomas Bateman was born in Rowsley, Derbyshire, England, the son of the amateur archaeologist William Bateman...

 in May 1855 found that some of the mounds were empty cenotaph

Cenotaph

A cenotaph is an "empty tomb" or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been interred elsewhere. The word derives from the Greek κενοτάφιον = kenotaphion...

 mounds where presumably the body was not available.

An excavation in 2004 produced a number of finds which are available in Derby Museum

Derby Museum and Art Gallery

Derby Museum and Art Gallery was established in 1879, along with Derby Central Library, in a new building designed by Richard Knill Freeman and given to Derby by Michael Thomas Bass. The collection includes a whole gallery displaying the paintings of Joseph Wright of Derby; there is also a large...

. It is believed that these remains are from the same period as burials discovered in nearby Repton

Repton

Repton is a village and civil parish on the edge of the River Trent floodplain in South Derbyshire, about north of Swadlincote. Repton is close to the county boundary with neighbouring Staffordshire and about northeast of Burton upon Trent.-History:...

. However, the Repton burials are not cremations. This wood is currently leased by the Forestry Agency from the Church Commissioners

Church Commissioners

The Church Commissioners is a body managing the historic property assets of the Church of England. It was set up in 1948 combining the assets of Queen Anne's Bounty, a fund dating from 1704 for the relief of poor clergy, and of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners formed in 1836...

 and it is designated "Derbyshire 101" as a Scheduled Ancient Monument

Scheduled Ancient Monument

In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a 'nationally important' archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorized change. The various pieces of legislation used for legally protecting heritage assets from damage and destruction are grouped under the term...

.

The path that goes through the wood links Foremarke Hall

Foremarke Hall

Foremarke Hall is a Georgian-Palladian country house . Completed in 1762, the Hall is located at the manor of Foremark, near the hamlets of Ingleby, Ticknall, Milton, and the village of Repton in South Derbyshire, England....

 with Knowle Hill. These two properties, and this land, were owned by the Burdett family and the path was useful when the family moved to Knowle Hill whilst building work was in progress and they would still have needed to visit St Saviour's church which the family built in 1662. In the eighteenth century Heath Wood was actually a field and the growth of woodland has only happened since then. Without the woods being there then this burial place would have have had a fine view of the Trent

River Trent

The River Trent is one of the major rivers of England. Its source is in Staffordshire on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through the Midlands until it joins the River Ouse at Trent Falls to form the Humber Estuary, which empties into the North Sea below Hull and Immingham.The Trent...

valley. The path that goes through the woods neatly misses any on the ancient barrows and it is believed that no barrows were removed to ease its path.