More information : [SJ 8824 3586]. TUMULUS [O.E.]. (1)
"Within the inner bank [BURY BANK - I.A. Hillfort - SJ 83 NE 1]
are three mounds - one square and the others circular.
The larger mound, which is 70' in diameter, was excavated in 1859.
It was composed of big selected pebbles or boulders of the Bunter
gravels, heaped together to a depth of five feet, and covered by
gravel four feet thick. Numerous pieces of charcoal were met with,
and a fragment of human bone which had been burnt, but although
the results were so meagre, they were sufficient to establish the
funeral origin of the mound.
An examination of the smaller mound, 44' in diameter, was made at
a subsequent date, but there were no traces of an interment
visible".
Garner was present at the 1859 excavation, and confirms the above
report, except that he does not refer to 'human bones' but 'small
fragments of bone'. (2-3)
Lynam did 'a days digging' in 1892 'but without result'. (4)
"At the southern end of the camp is a distinctively raised plot
of ground with a ditch about twenty yards square... From the
northern side of this...gradually rises a conical hill or
low...till recently the burrow of great numbers of rabbits...We
are not aware of its having been excavated". (5)
A large bowl barrow, approx. 25.0m in diameter and 2.0m in height,
with no visible ditch. This is presumably the barrow excavated
in 1859.
The other mounds were not identified. (6)
No change; published survey 1/2500 correct. (7)
Two mounds (probably Bronze Age round barrows), centred to SJ 8823
3587, within Bury Bank hillfort (SJ 83 NE 1) were surveyed at 1:1000
by RCHME in 1991. The larger barrow measures between 22m and 25m in
diameter and stands a maximum of 2.2m above the surrounding ground
level. It appears virtually flat-topped, but its sides are somewhat
uneven. No evidence was found of the recorded excavations (Authority
2). The smaller mound lies a few metres to the north-west of the
first and measures 17m in diameter and 0.5m in height; it is very
disturbed. A third square mound reported in the nineteenth century
(Authority 5) no longer survives. Full RCHME survey information,
including a detailed report, is available in the NMR Archive. (8)
Scheduled. For the designation record of this site please see The National Heritage List for England. (9-10) |