One Barrow, St. Austell, Cornwall

Tumulus (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – SX 0309 5227

Archaeology & History

More than two hundred years ago, an impressive prehistoric burial mound lived in an area that used to be known as Gwallon Down, not far from the impressive Long Stone monolith, about half-a-mile west of Charlestown on the southern edges of St. Austell, but it was completely destroyed in 1801.  Thankfully there was a lengthy account made of the site in John Whitaker’s (1804) huge work, but there seems to be little else known of it.  He told us:

“In the middle of that extended waste, the downs of St. Austle, was, what was called One Barrow.  This waste, in 1801, was resolved to be enclosed, and the barrow was obliged to be levelled.  In this operation, the single workman came near the centre, and there found a variety of stones, all slates, ranged erect in an enclosure nearly square.  The stones were about one foot-and-a-half in height, apparently fixed in the ground before the formation of the barrow.  The stones were all undressed, but had little stones carefully placed in the crevices at the joints of the large, in order to preclude all communication between the rubbish without and the contents within.  On the even heads of these stones was laid a square freestone, which had evidently been hewn into this form, which seemed to rest with its extremities on the edges of the others, and was about eighteen or twenty inches in diameter.  The summit of the barrow rose about eight or ten feet above all.  In the enclosure, the leveller found a dust, remarkably fine, and seemingly inclining to clay.  On the surface it was brown, about the middle downwards it took a dark chestnut colour, and at the bottom it approached towards a black.  On stirring it up, a multitude of bones appeared, different in the sizes, but none exceeding six or seven inches in length.  Among them were some pieces about the largeness of a half-crown, which, from their concave form, convinced him they were parts of a skull.  The whole mass of bones and ashes might (he thought) be about one gallon in quantity.  On touching the bones, they instantly crumbled into dust, and took the same colour with the same fineness as the dust in which they were found.  They were exceedingly white when they were first discovered, but remarkably brittle; the effect assuredly of their calcination in a fire, antecedent to their burial.  Much in fineness and in colour with these ashes, appeared several veins of irregular earth on the outside of the enclosure; which, from their position without, yet adjoining, and from the space occupied by them there, he conjectured to have been bodies laid promiscuously upon the funeral pile, but which I conjecture to have been only the ashes adhering to the ground, and not possible to be separated from it, for a burial with the rest within the enclosure.  They had nothing of sand in them, but seemed inclining to clay, and even more so (from the adhering soil probably) than the dust of the enclosure.  And, as the workman was fully convinced of what every one else must acknowledge, that the ashes and the bones of the enclosure had once belonged to a human body, he very properly took up the whole with care, placed the stones nearly in their original posture within an hedge contiguous, then in building, placed also the bones with the ashes within their original enclosure there, and even placed the covering-stone over both.”

One wonders whereabouts the hedgerow happened to be where the stones were placed, “nearly in their original posture” and if this reconstruction was ever recovered.

The site was subsequently mentioned in Polwhele’s (1816) massive survey, reiterating Whitaker’s description, simply telling how:

“With respect to the monumental remains in the neighbourhood of St Austel, a very ingenious correspondent says in one of the mounds of earth on our downs which was lately levelled a kind of urn was discovered which evidently contained human ashes many of the bones were entire but appear to have been calcined I am well acquainted with the man who dug this up.”

https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=MCO2434&resourceID=1020

References:

  1. Borlase, William Copeland, Nænia Cornubiæ, Longmans Green Reader: Truro 1872.
  2. Hammond, Joseph, A Cornish Parish: Being an Account of St. Austell, Skeffington & Sons: London 1897.
  3. Polwhele, Richard, The History of Cornwall – volume 2, Law & Whittaker: Truro 1816.
  4. Whitaker, John, The Ancient Cathedral of Cornwall – volume 2, John Stockdale: London 1804.

© Paul BennettThe Northern Antiquarian

Villa Real, Jesmond, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Northumberland

Cist (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – NZ 260 656

Archaeology & History

Urn of Villa Real

All remains of this prehistoric burial site have obviously long since fallen into only the vaguest of memory, but its incidence deserves reviving for those who may live nearby and seek for a place where our truly ancient ancestors once faired.  Here, beneath the modern buildings of homo-profanus, less than a mile north-east of Newcastle city centre, a small prehistoric burial chamber, or cist, was uncovered quite accidentally by a Mr Russell Blackbird (1832) in the first-half of the 19th century.  In a letter to the newly-formed (as it was back then) Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle in April of that year he told,

“In trenching some ground for planting, this morning, we discovered a stone vault, 4 feet long by 2 feet wide, and 20 inches deep, deposited in a dry hard marl below the soil, which we were  taking out for making the walks in the garden. It contained the bones of a man, the head, in particular, quite perfect, with all the teeth in it.  Also a small urn (was found)… There was some red-coloured earth in the urn which the labourers threw out.”

Mr Blackbird sent the antiquarian society a sketch of the urn that he and his colleagues discovered, reproduced here.

References:

  1. Blackbird, Russell, “Account of the Discovery of a Stone Vault and Urn, at Villa Real, Jesmond,” in Archaeologia Aeliana, volume 2, 1832.

Acknowledgements:  Huge thanks for use of the Ordnance Survey map in this site profile, reproduced with the kind permission of the National Library of Scotland

© Paul BennettThe Northern Antiquarian

Amble Links, Amble, Northumberland

Tumuli (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – NU 273 046

Archaeology & History

In a lengthy letter describing the cist burial at Cliff House, its author, Mr W. Dunn (1857) told that there were additional prehistoric remains nearby, that had only recently been destroyed.  He told:

“It appears that, a few years ago, in the immediate proximity of the present discovery (at Cliff House, Ed.) two or more tumuli were found which contained urns and bones; and flint arrow heads of elaborate finish have been occasionally met with.”

I can find no additional information about these sites.

In the same article, a Mr Kell told that during the construction of the Amble piers a half-mile to the west, “some years ago, he was sojourning in the neighbourhood, and …human remains were found on the removal of sand by the waves in a violent gale from the East.”  What else is known of this place?

References:

  1. Dunn, W., “Ancient Sepulchral Remains,” in Proceedings Society of Antiquaries Newcastle-upon-Tyne, volume 1, no.34, 1857.

© Paul BennettThe Northern Antiquarian

Cliff House, Amble, Northumberland

Cist (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – NU 2730 0486

Archaeology & History

Site location on 1926 map

In November 1857, Collingwood Bruce read out a paper that had been sent to him by the Rector of Warkworth village (Rev. W. Dunn), describing “ancient sepulchral remains” that had been found near the cliff-edge above Pan Rocks near Amble’s lighthouse.  It was a lengthy account which, in passing, also mentioned several other prehistoric sites close by that have long since been destroyed and which we have very little information about.  Mr Dunn’s (1857) letter told:

“In the middle of April last, about 50 yards NE of the Cliff House, Amble, and about 20 yards from the end of what is called Warkworth South Pier, the pilots came upon a long upright stone, standing out of the shale to the height of twelve or fourteen inches,which had been laid bare by the recent heavy gales, but which, from its rude appearance, did not afford the idea of anything beyond a mere accidental tilting.  Alongside this upright stone was a large unwrought slab, which, on being raised, was found to be the covering of a cist or sepulchral chamber containing a perfect skeleton. The figure was lying on its left side, with the head to the south-west, having the knees much doubled and with the right arm thrown back.  By its side stood an urn of unbaked clay.  This urn, now in the Museum of the Duke of Northumber­land, resembles in size and shape that which was found a few years since at Hawkhill, and which is preserved in the Museum of the Antiquarian Society of Newcastle.  It contained a small quantity of dark earth.

“Having given this general outline of the discovery, I shall proceed to offer such observations as I have been able to make,and have considered worth recording. I grieve to say that before the period of my visit the spoiler had been busy with these venerable remains. The skull had been broken up, the jaws smashed, every tooth appropriated, and the bones indiscriminately mingled, after many a century of undisturbed repose.

“The cist or chamber containing the remains was composed of four slabs inserted edge-wise in a cavity which appeared to have been dug out of the friable shale which lies upon the harder rock in this locality. It ranged south-east and north-west, and measured as follows: depth, 18½ inches; width, 26 inches; length at bottom, 4 feet; at top, 3 ft 4 in.; the difference between top and bottom measurements being accounted for by the shrinking of the ends.  The cavity in the shale was much larger than the cist, and the space between the slabs and the shale was closely filled-in with stones, roughly broken, commingled with earth and larger stones.  The side slabs projected somewhat beyond the ends.  The bottom of the cist was covered to the depth of about half an inch, with dark, unctuous mould.  Amongst the rubbish comprising the filling-up of the space above-mentioned, was found an angular piece of silex, probably an unfinished arrow­head; and in the south-west corner of the cist lay a large, smooth cobble stone, which, when considered in conjunction with the flint flake, the imagination may easily construe into the club of this ancient denizen of our shores.  The slab which constituted the cover of the cist was of great size and extended in every direc­tion considerably beyond it; and the upright stone was set up, not at one of the ends, but along its length.  It is remarkable that a close inspection of these stones gave no trace of chisel-marks in any part.  In order that the cover might lie level, pieces of shale, flags, etc., were laid on the uprights which formed the cist, wherever an irregularity presented itself.

“Within the memory of man, the rock ran out from this point for some yards into the sea at a considerable elevation; but the construction of a pier in the immediate neighbourhood has caused the removal of much of the stone, and the spray of our wild sea waves now dashes over the spot which for countless generations may have been peacefully tenanted by these nameless bones.  At the same time, it does not appear probable that at any period there has been at this particular point a very deep covering of the sand and bent-grass which are found thick and rank upon the adjacent links.

“The skull must have been very characteristic, having attracted general observation from the extraordinary lowness of the frontal region, the great development of the occipital portion of the head, and the width and length of the lower jaw from its anterior junction to the articulation of the temporal bone.  One person observed that during life the man “must have measured as much to the top of his eyebrows as to the top of his head.”  The teeth are said to have been very beautiful and regular, and quite sound.  With the exception of a front tooth, which was missing in the lower jaw, they were perfect.  The thigh-bone measured 19½ inches, indicating a man of large size; whilst the porous internal organization of the bones gave probable evidence of comparative youth.

“The urn is unbaked, of a light clay colour, and measures in height 8 inches, in depth 7¼ inches, and in diameter 5½ inches.  It is ornamented with zigzag scoring, alternating with dotted lines,and upright (and sometimes slanting) scorings, which appear to have been made with some rude instrument whilst the clay was moist.  The scorings are continued over the edge of the rim.  On being rather roughly seized by one of the men, it being expected that it contained treasure, a piece was broken off; but no material injury has been occasioned.  The stone found in the cist does not resemble any that one may pick up on the neighbouring shore, and attracted attention from its bearing no assignable relation to what I may call the masonry of the tomb.  I have since learnt that stones are not infrequently found in Teutonic graves on the Continent, and that recently a singular oval stone was found in a tumulus on Petersfield Heath.”

All trace of this site has disappeared.  Mr Bruce posited the idea that the round stone in the cist may have been the one that ended the life of the buried man!  An intriguing thought.  And that the urn “no doubt, contained some portion of the feast prepared on the occasion of his funeral.”

References:

  1. Dunn, W., “Ancient Sepulchral Remains,” in Proceedings Society of Antiquaries Newcastle-upon-Tyne, volume 1, no.34, 1857.

© Paul BennettThe Northern Antiquarian

Giant’s Grave, Cloghfin, County Donegal

Chambered Cairn (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – H 277 998

Archaeology & History

Included in Eamon Cody’s (2002) magnum opus, this site has long since gone.  It was highlighted on the 1845-47 OS-map of the area and the only subsequent information about it was written in the 1903 Ordnance Survey Name Book, where it was described as a “supposed Giant’s Grave” that was marked by a large spread of boulders.

Perhaps the only thing we can ascertain here is from the name Giant’s Grave.  Invariably, giants are part and parcel of creation myths in early traditional societies.  Such giants, as well as being huge mythical creatures, can also be the progenitor of tribes and communities, i.e., the person who laid the initial foundation of where the tribe came to live, usually an early queen, king or shaman figure.  So, in the case of this Giant’s Grave, it was likely to have been known as the burial place of such a figure: mythical in importance as well as size.

References:

  1. Cody, Eamon, Survey of the Megalithic Tombs of Ireland: Volume VI – County Donegal, Duchas: Dublin 2002.

© Paul BennettThe Northern Antiquarian

Cloghcorr Stones, Claggan, Dunfanaghy, County Donegal

Chambered Cairn (destroyed):  OS Grid Reference – C 003 396

Archaeology & History

In unpublished Notebooks written by one Thomas Fagan during the years 1845-48 (held by the National Archives in Dublin), he wrote how a local man had told him of the existence of “a supposed Druid’s Altar” in Claggan township, but its precise location has never subsequently been established.  In Eamon Cody’s (2002) magnum opus he told what little we know about the place, saying,

“It stood on a slight rise adjoining Claggan Upper, the name assigned to a group of houses in the townland.  It was reportedly encircled by “a wall or parapet” and consisted of several large upright stones2-4 feet high and arranged in two rows of few feet apart with a pillar at either end.”

The structure had been completely destroyed just a few years before Fagan’s visit to the place and no further information of it has yet been uncovered.

References:

  1. Cody, Eamon, Survey of the Megalithic Tombs of Ireland: Volume VI – County Donegal, Duchas: Dublin 2002.

© Paul BennettThe Northern Antiquarian