Summary

Large conical mound, very steep tumulus or landscape feature?

Monument Types

• ROUND BARROW (Early Neolithic to IPS: Post Medieval - 4000 BC to 1900 AD)
• GOLD MINE (16th century to Unknown - 1538 AD)
• LANDSCAPE FEATURE (17th century to 19th century - 1601 AD to 1800 AD)

Associated Finds

• BRICK (Undated)
• TILE (Undated)
• MANUSCRIPT (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)

Protected Status: None recorded

Description

Mound - ? tumulus or landscape feature (though note S4 below).
1911: 'A tumulus is in the grounds of Little Haugh Hall, the name of which is suggestive' (S1).
1918: "very large and steep. If a burial mound it is probably not prehistoric. Circular. Nearly 20' high but only circa (42 ?) paces diam. Flat top 5 paces diameter. Lime tree on summit. Fir trees all around." (S2).
Oct 1971: "A large conical mound of loose earth, overgrown with trees, measuring 27.)m in diameter and 4.5m high. The sharply defined top is flat, circa 4.0m in diam, with no evidence of mutilations. There is no trace of a ditch. Finds from the mound during field investigation include brick, tiles and one piece of oyster shell. The mound cannot be defined with certainty, but the most likely explanation is that it is a mount associated with,and visible from Little Haugh Hall, an 18th c house (not outstanding) incorporatiing earlier 17thC work" (S2)
1 March 1976, visited for barrow survey : trees and elder scrub, otherwise very good condition. Mound height 5.17m, mound diameter, base 28.5m, top 5m (S3).
'It is believed that Henry VIII made an abortive attempt to dig for gold in the parish, a mound in the grounds of Little Haugh Hall marks the site' (S4). Suggests mining (this location?) rather than excavating - see below.
In 1722 Bishop Gibson, who edited the 2nd edition of "Camden's Britannia", refering to Norton, wrote:- "I know not whether I should here take notice into what vain and groundless hopes of finding gold at Norton, king Henry the Eighth was drawn by a credulous kind of avarice; but the diggings there speak for me." Certainly Henry VIII did engage in mining transactions in this county, for in his Household Book for 1538, is the entry "payde to Richard Candishe by the kinge's commaundement, certifyed by my Lord Privy Sealis l're, and other the kingis Commissioners join wt him, to have the oversight of the kingis myndes of golde in Suffolke, and to convey certyne fyners and other artifficers there, for the tryall of the ore there, the somme of xx li." And another item is for the payment of two "myners to be sent at this tyme into Suff., to trye and werke at the newe myne." A small plantation on the Little Haugh estate, parallel to the Bury Road, where there is sandy soil, is traditionally pointed out as the site of these mines (S5).

Features visible on Lidar. See associated files.

Sources

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