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Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument NY265: Ailey Hill
• Conservation Area: Ripon Conservation Area

Monument Type(s):

• BURIAL (7th CENTURY to 9th CENTURY - 601 AD to 900 AD)
• CEMETERY (7th CENTURY to 9th CENTURY - 601 AD to 900 AD)
• MOUND (7th CENTURY to 9th CENTURY - 601 AD? to 900 AD?)

Other References/Statuses

• AMIE Reference / HOB UID: 53770 AILEY HILL
• National Monuments Record: SE37SW18

Full description

Listed in gazetteer (1).

Suggestion that the cemetery includes only adult male burials in one burial phase (phase 2) radiocarbon dates to the late seventh to ninth centuries, where burials from an earlier phase appear to be for the laity. (2) This site is included in the gazetteer of a Thesis "A social and Anthropological analysis of Conversion period and later Anglo-Saxon cemeteries in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire".
(Hadley & Buckberry) Ailcy Hill is a natural mound 200m due east of Ripon Cathedral. Various reports of human bones exist. In 1695 a hoard of 9th century stycas was discovered, and excavations in 1986/7 revealed at least 37 identifiable graves, with a minimum number of 140 individuals represented. Three phases of burial were identified based on three different burial alignments (3).

RIPON, AILey HILL (SE 3171 7114). East of Ripon Cathedral R. A. Hall carried out research excavations sponsored by Ripon 1100 Festival Committee. Six small area excavations on the summit, flanks and base of the hill demonstrated that it is essentially a natural feature used for some time as an inhumation cemetery. Two groups, on slightly different alignments, have been recognized. Objects in association include iron nails and chest or coffin fittings thought to date within the Anglian or Anglo-Scandinavian period (4).

RIPON, AILEY HILL (SE 3 I 7I 7I 14). Further excavation by R. A Hall for H.B.M.C. (cf.Medieval Archaeol., XXXI (1987), 169) enabled the approximate extent of the inhumation cemetery over this natural gravel hill to be determined. Burials were concentrated on the east facing slopes. All burials and related deposits were removed from the summit, where erosion is worst. Further ironwork - fittings and locks for chests and coffins - was recovered,
indicating a possible date range of 7th to 11th centuries (5).

Archaeological investigations of a number of small sites, combined with information provided by antiquarian writers, indicate the existence of a number of churches and/or cemeteries in the vicinity of Ripon Cathedral. In two cases these demonstrably originate in the 8th century or earlier, and in the other, less well documented instance an earlier origin seems likely. It is suggested that these site are early ecclesiastical nuclei associated with the known 7th century monastery at Ripon, and a tentative reconstruction of the original monastic enclosure is proposed on the basis of archaeological, antiquarian and cartographic evidence (6).

<1> York Archaeological Trust, 2002, Ripon Flood Alleviation Scheme, North Yorkshire (Report). SNY8464.

<2> Ordnance Survey, Various, Ordnance Survey Record Card, SE37SW018 (Card Index). SNY1.

<3> University of Sheffield, 01/2004, THESIS: Extracted from: A social and Anthropological analysis of Conversion period and later Anglo-Saxon cemeteries in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire (Manuscript). SNY9568.

<4> Society for Medieval Archaeology, 1987, Medieval Britain and Ireland in 1985 (Serial). SNY21617.

<5> Medieval Archaeology, 1988, Medieval Britain and Ireland in 1986, p290 (Serial). SNY21621.

<6> Medieval Archaeology, 1996, Settlement and Monasticism at Ripon, North Yorkshire, From the 7th to 11th Centuries AD (Serial). SNY21643.

Sources and further reading

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