Miscellaneous Posts by TomBo

"classified as an Iron Age promontory fort, covering two acres and protected on all but the west side by steep natural slopes. The west rampart is 18ft. wide and 7ft. high with an external ditch, c.4ft. deep, and the remains of a slight inner bank at the south end. The original entrance may have been at the north end of this side, where there is a break in the outer ditch (Thomas, N, Guide to Prehistoric England, 1960. p. 111). Limited excavation (Jarrett, M G, trans. A&A, D&N, 1965, vol. 11, p. 124-7) on the west rampart revealed three phases of construction (A). The original clay rampart was revetted with cobbles, externally and at the top where a wooden palisade was also provided (B). The inside of the rampart was cut away and a stone revetting wall built, at least one of the stones bearing a medieval mason's mark (C). Wooden stakes were added to the retaining wall for strengthening. When the rampart was finally abandoned these stakes were burnt. 'Clearly the last two of the three phases must belong to the Middle Ages. It is possible, though not likely, that the original construction was prehistoric.' The only finds came from the topsoil, the earliest being C15 or C16 pottery fragments. The nearest parallels to this site are the defended, rather than fortified, farm or manor sites of medieval date in Roxburghshire, e.g. at Lintalee - grid reference NT61NW12. The interior of the earthwork is entirely wooded with no surface indications of occupation.' (NZ24SE38, Ordnance Survey, 1976)"

"Small, round, flat-topped mound on a natural sand hill on the south side of Flass Vale. Diameter 8.2m. Height 1.5m. The mound is at the northeast end of the hill and is closely overlooked by higher ground. The top of the hill has been levelled, leaving a 'berm' around the barrow, but the possible remains of a ditch and exterior bank are visible on the southwest side (ditch 0.3m. deep, 2m. wide). The barrow is in good condition and commands good views of the Wear Valley. The earliest records of the site are in 1346, when at the Battle of Neville's Cross the Durham monks raised the 'corporax cloth' of St. Cuthbert there. A wooden cross stood until 1569."

"a standing stone, roughly rectangular in section, 0.3m. x 0.2m. at the base and 1.2m. high, located near the summit of a ridge overlooking Burn Hope. To the southwest lie three boulders at distances of 8m, 15m. and 18m. from the standing stone. In their present positions there is no evidence that they ever formed part of a stone circle."

"much ploughed oval mound on the west side of Stockley Beck in the north corner of the pasture. Length 27m. north-south, breadth 9m. east-west, height 1.5m. The mound is surrounded by a bank and internal ditch of diameter 34m. The bank is broken in several places, a feature perhaps related to later tree-planting."

"A broad bank 5m. wide with traces of a ditch on the west side. It is poorly preserved, degraded and cut by hollow ways etc, but then improves to the north. Details are to be found in Ross C, B.A. diss: Pedam's Oak, 1987, p.86, 5.16 but no reason is given for the Bronze Age date. "

"A bank and ditch on the north running southwest-northeast across the northernmost of Pedam's Oak fields. The bank is 3m. wide, the ditch 3m. wide x 0.5m. deep. It is shown as a trackway by the Ordnance Survey."

"A burnt mound is an accumulation of burnt (fire-crazed) stones, ash and charcoal often sited next to a stream or water source. On those examples which have been excavated some form of trough or basin capable of holding water is normally found in close association with the mound. This suggests the stones were heated before being placed into the filled basin to heat up the water either for cooking or has been suggested to produce a sauna like effect within a temporary structure such as a leather tent erected over the basin. Burnt mounds are thought to originate and have their main use in the Bronze-Age. The burnt mound at Foggerthwaite consists of a low charcoal rich earth and stone mound measuring 14 metres north -south and extends 6 metres east from the modern field wall, the mound is a maximum of 0.6 metres high." (sourced from English Heritage, Schedule of Ancient Monumments, 2001, Ref MPP23 AA 11125/1)

"A very slight mound with some charcoal and burnt stone in mole heaps a few meters north of the linear earthwork forming part of SM343556. The mound is very slight and is mainly visible as an area of dark mole hills, c.5m diameter, at the east end of a slight ridge. Not entirely convincing as a burnt mound, but several other good sites exist in the area." (sourced from Gledhill T & Nichol R, Upper Teasdale backround information file: PRN 6425, MPP Archive, 2000)

"a group of seven carved rocks and a cairnfield on the top of a ridge at Bracken Heads. The cairnfield consists of at least 14 cairns. The largest is c. 16m in diameter and 0.4m high. It has been substantially damaged by stone robbing. The remainder of the cairns are between 10m and 3m in diameter, and up to 0.6m high. Most are undisturbed, but the centres of a few closest to the wall are dished because of the removal of stone for walling. The carved rocks are closely associated with the cairnfield, and occur both sides of the wall between Folly Top and Barnard Castle Allotment... The carvings on all the rocks consist of cup-marks; these are joined in pairs by short grooves on two of the rocks. The rocks are mostly or completely covered by turf, and their positions are marked by loose stones which have been placed on top of them. The carvings are unusually fresh, presumably because they have been covered for much of the last 4000 years."

"Now lost, this stone circle may have been the most significant in south-west Durham located on a probable routeway between Weardale and Teesdale. Writing in 1794 Hutchinson described the site as follows 'A mile to the north of the village of Eggleston, above a little brook, stands an ancient monument, called Standing Stones. It has consisted of a uniform circle of rough stones, with an inward trench, and in the centre is a cairn. Much of the material has been taken away to repair the roads' (Hutchinson, W., A History of Durham, 1794, Volume 3, p. 227). By the late 19th century little was left of the monument 'Owing to so many of the stones having been removed for building purposes, no feature of any interest is left. About five rough stones lie on the grass, a plot of which bears a different colour and character to that of the rest of the field' ('FML', Visitor's Guide to Raby Castle, 1857, p. 57). Today nothing is visible above ground to indicate the position of the site. The OS correspondent writing in 1957 noted that 'No trace is now visible' (NY92NE4, Ordnance Survey Record Card, 1957). Field work as part of the English Heritage Monuments Protection Programme in March 2000 noted that at the position assumed to be the site of the stone circle there was still discernable a slight circular banked earthwork. The field was under pasture at the time and the feature located at NGR NY9829 2522."

"Geophysical and topographic survey carried out by Archaeological Services University of Durham on behalf of County Archaeology Section during October 2001. Survey designed to examine the site of a possible former stone circle, provisionally identified during MPP work in March 2000. Geophysical survey identified anomalies, provisionally interpreted as being a circular ditch and a circular arrangement of pits that could once have held upright stones. A depression was recorded that could have been caused by removal of one of these stones. All these features were located on a slightly raised, flatter area, identified through topographic survey." (sourced from "ASUD, Standing Stones Farm, geophysical and topographical surveys, 2001)