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Durham and Northumbria: Latest Posts |
Previous 10 | Showing 11-20 of 2,872 posts. Most recent first | Next 10 
Gefrin (Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork) — Miscellaneous |
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Robin Fleming in her book 'Britain after Rome 400 to 1070' mentions that, this complex landscape of hillforts and Saxon royal palace was part of a ritual landscape. She goes on to say..... "that Bede did not mention that the king's hall and other major structures were erected in a straight line between the stone circle and the barrow and that the layout of the 'modern' seventh-century complex was thus determined by these ancient and enigmatic monuments" The Saxon complex seems to have had a 7 tiered theatre, and pits filled with ox heads, evidence of ritual use. The use of earlier prehistoric monuments such as barrows for instance were often used by these later settlements to add prestige to families and the small kingships that abounded at this time. |
Posted by moss1st November 2012ce |
Low Hauxley (Cairn(s)) — News |
Race Against Time To Save Bronze Age ArtefactsThe extensive sand dunes of Druridge Bay on the Northumberland coast are a veritable of Britain's history, from the Ice Age to to day. Archaeologists say there is a danger of the natural world losing tangible evidence of it's history. More info : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-20137243 |
Posted by drewbhoy31st October 2012ce |
Duddo Five Stones (Stone Circle) — Images (click to view fullsize) |
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Posted by AWRY HERMIT 4th October 2012ce |
Old Bewick (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) — Images |
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Posted by Hob28th September 2012ce |
The Priest and Clerk (Natural Rock Feature) — Links |
GeographThese are on the side of Cartington Hill. Tomlinson's 1889 'Comprehensive Guide to the County of Northumberland' says "About half-a-mile to the north*, on the left-hand side of a moorland road, are two large stones called "Priest" and "Clerk," from their position, the one being a little below the other." Derek Harper's photos show them to be pretty weird looking. *from what he calls 'in the direction of Debdon House, a small Druid's circle of nine large stones' - one of the cairns or something else? |
Posted by Rhiannon19th September 2012ce |
Copt Hill (Round Barrow(s)) — Miscellaneous |
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Details of Barrow on Pastscape A round barrow of Neolithic origin, excavated by William Greenwell and TW Robinson in 1877. At the time, the barrow measured 66 feet in diameter and stood 7.75 feet high. The scheduled monument details (1998) describe it as 3 metres high and 25 metres in diameter, although in 1976 the Ordnance Survey found it to be 23 metres in diameter an 1.6 metres high on the uphill side. The excavations uncovered several disarticulated inhumations burnt in situ within a matrix of burnt limestone and charcoal, the area defined by a rectangular setting of boulders with signs of burning on its inner face. This setting, located circa 1.5 metres south of the centre, measured circa 10 metres by 1.8 metres, and was aligned east-west. Terminal pits with charcoal-rich fills were present to the east. The mound itself was composed of boulders and slabs and capped with earth and stones. There were apparently traces of a boulder kerb, although the Ordnance Survey could find no traces of this in 1974. Within the mound were a series of Early Bronze Age secondary interments including traces of a child inhumation in a stone-lined cist with capstone and paving slab; an inhumation with a food vessel at its head; a cremation beneath an inverted food vessel, within a stone setting; and other traces of cremations and inhumations. Near the summit of the mound was an extended inhumation within a stone cist, believed to be of Anglo-Saxon date. The barrow is known as Seven Sisters, after the trees which stand on it. (NZ 3534 4922) Tumulus (NR) (1) Copt Hill round barrow measuring 66ft diameter and 7.75ft high excavated by Greenwell and Robinson in 1877. About 5ft S of the centre were the burnt and disjointed remains of an unknown number of Neolithic inhumations covered by a deposit of limestone and wood. Eight BA burials were also discovered. Four were cremations; including one deposited in a collared urn, and the remainder were inhumations. These included a child burial within a stone cist and another burial accompanied by a food vessel. Near the summit of the mound, about 10ft SSW of the centre was an extended burial within a stone cist, thought to be Anglo-Saxon. Finds in the British Museum. (2) Supposed Anglo-Saxon inhumation listed by Meaney. (3) A round cairn about 23.0m diameter (though slightly encroached on by ploughing in the E) and 1.6m high from the uphill E side. It is now visible as a turf-covered stony mound with four trees on it. There is no kerb. The centre contains a roughly rectangular depression about 0.5m deep, 2.5m E-W by 2.0m, but there is no trace of any cist. (See G/P from the SE). Surveyed at 1:1250. (4) NZ 3534 4922, Copt Hill, Houghton-le-Spring. A detailed description is given of the initial deposition and later burials found in this barrow. A large number of additional bibliographic references is given. (5) A grass and tree covered cairn, false crest sited on the scarp slope of the East Durham Plateau. Excavated 20th Sept 1877 by Greenwell and Robinson. Revealed a primary interment in what Greenwell interpreted as a 'flue cremation', but which is probably a mortuary structure of Neolithic date. Bronze Age burials were also discovered. Grave goods now in British Museum. Site known locally as the 'Seven Sisters' because of the seven trees which grow on it. Group A. Additional bibliographic references are given. (6) NZ 353 492. Copt Hill. Additional references. (7) (8) (9) Copt Hill Barrow, Houghton-le-Spring. Food vessel found with a secondary inhumation in Copt Hill Barrow.16 ft. ENE of the centre and 3 ft. 4 in. above the old ground level. No further details. Now lost. (10) NZ 353 492. Seven Sisters round barrow, Copt Hill. Scheduled No TW/12. (11) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SOURCE TEXT -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date) OS 6" 1923 ( 2) Archaeologia Aeliana : or miscellaneous tracts relating to antiquity Trechman, CT. Prehistoric burials in the County of Durham. 11, 1914 Page(s)123-130 ( 3) by Audrey Meaney 1964 A gazetteer of early Anglo-Saxon burial sites Page(s)83 ( 4) Field Investigators Comments F1 ISS 29-NOV-76 ( 5) by Roger Miket 1984 The prehistory of Tyne and Wear : an inventory of prehistoric discoveries in the Metropolitan County of Tyne and Wear Page(s)53 ( 6) by Robert Young 1980 An inventory of barrows in County Durham Transactions of the Architectural and Archaeological Society of Durham and NorthumberlandOld series vol 1 (1862) - vol 11 (1965) 5, 1980 Page(s)9 ( 7) by Ian Kinnes 1979 Round barrows and ring-ditches in the British Neolithic British Museum occasional papers no.7 Page(s)10,58,80 ( 8) edited by Philip Rahtz, Tania Dickinson and Lorna Watts 1980 Anglo-Saxon cemeteries 1979 : the fourth Anglo-Saxon symposium at Oxford BAR British series1 (1974) - 82 (1980) Page(s)300 ( 9) by Trevor G Cowie 1978 Bronze Age Food Vessel urns in northern Britain BAR British series1 (1974) - 55, 1978 Page(s)34-5, 64, 82-3 ( 10) by Alex M Gibson 1978 Bronze Age pottery in the northeast of England AR British series1 (1974) - 56 Page(s)68 ( 11) English Heritage 1995 County list of Scheduled Monuments : March 1994 Tyne and Wear Page(s)8 ( 12) Scheduled Monument Notification 02-DEC-1998 ( 13) by I A Kinnes and I H Longworth 1985 Catalogue of the excavated prehistoric and Romano-British material in the Greenwell Collection Page(s)132 |
Posted by Chance10th July 2012ce |
Old Bewick (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) — Links |
British Rock Art BlogThe Jan Brouwer Trail A great way to commemorate Jan Brouwer and all the work he did for rockartuk. |
Posted by tjj28th May 2012ce |
Thompson's Rock (Holed Stone) — Fieldnotes |
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Visited this fascinating site today and just thought i'd add some tips for anyone else wanting to visit it. The coordinates were pretty much spot on I think, just don't make the mistake we made and approach the site from the top of the hill, it's far easier to find when you're walking up the hill! Park up in Lordenshaws car park and take the path that heads straight up Simonside hill. When the hill starts leveling out, head to the right towards the scattering of rocks on the flat area. Thompson's Rock is easy to spot, it's the biggest there. The trial stone is another large rock, to the east of Thompson's Rock. The deepest hole of the trial stone is near to the ground and gets covered with plants so might take a bit of spotting. |
Posted by LauraC 29th April 2012ce |
Thompson's Rock (Holed Stone) — Images |
 
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Posted by LauraC 29th April 2012ce |
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