| Summary : Three Bronze Age round barrows surviving as earthworks. A pottery vessel containning cremated human remains was found in one of them in circa 1835. The northernmost barrow was excavated in 1976-7. The primary burial deposit was an unurned cremation (said to have been deposited in a leather container) of a woman aged about 18 years. Nearby was a shallow scoop containing a small quantity of cremated bone. Two further secondary unurned cremations and fragments of an inhumation were also found. Radiocarbon dates from primary and secondary interments focused on the early 2nd millennium BC. Numerous flints, including scrapers, transverse arrowheads and blades were found within the body of the mound. A second barrow was partly excavated in 1982-3. An urn containing cremated human remains was found at the centre. A second phase of activity comprised two pits, each surrounded by a ring of stakeholes. Radiocarbon dating of material from one of the stakeholes produced a date in the early 1st millennium BC. Backfill from the antiquarian excavation contained many finds, including potsherds, a barbed and tanged flint arrowhead and a flake from a Neolithic polished stone axe. Two of the barrows are scheduled. |
More information : [Group centred SJ 80677225] Site of Tumuli [O.E.]
Tumulus [O.E.] (Site of)
(Urn containing human remains found A.D. 1835) [T.I.] (1)
Three tumuli at Old Withington, one containing urn with calcined
bones. (2-3)
Three turf covered round barrows varying in height from 0.8m. to 1.4m
Surveyed at 1/2500. (4)
(SJ80667240: 80687233) Tumuli (NR)
(SJ80687221) Tumulus (NR) (5)
SJ 80667241: An excavation of the northern round barrow of the Lower
Withington group was carried out in 1976-7. The circa 20m diameter
barrow was constructed of an inner turf stack mound surrounded by
heaped sand which was revetted with turf. The sand was derived
from scrape holes on the perimeter of the mound. The primary burial
was an un-urned cremation of a woman, circa 18 years old, placed in
a leather container and buried in a 'D' shaped pit with a turf
capping. Twenty centimetres from the primary burial was a shallow
scoop containing a small amount of cremated bones and teeth.
There were two secondary un urned cremations, one above the primary
burial, the other in the north-east quadrant. Lying immediately
outside the perimeter of the barrow, in the south-east quadrant, was
a pit circa 2.0m. long and 40cm. deep containing at one end fragments
of an inhumation. Flints found throughout the body of the mound
included, scrapers, transverse arrowheads and small blades but no
pottery was found. Carbon dating of the primary and secondary
burials provided dates for the mound between 2000 BC and 1800 BC. (6)
SJ 8068 7220. Bowl barrow 500m SSW of Home Farm. Scheduled RSM No
22585. An oval turf mound up to 1m high with maximum dimensions of
35m x 31m. Limited antiquarian investigation at the centre of the
barrow located an urn containing human remains. The central area was
re-excavated in 1982/3 and revealed the monument to be of two phases.
In the latter phase two pits had been cut into the subsoil and each
surrounded by a ring of stakeholes. Radiocarbon dating of material
from one of the stakeholes produced a date of around 900 BC.
Backfill from the antiquarian investigation produced a volume of
finds including substantial remains of 6 decorated pots, a barbed
and tanged flint arrowhead and a trimming flake from a Neolithic
polished stone axe.
SJ 8067 7236. Two bowl barrows 390m and 320m SSW of Home Farm.
Scheduled RSM No 22586. The S barrow is an earthen mound 35m in
diameter and up to 0.7m high. The N barrow is a turf and sand mound
35m in diameter and up to 0.5m high, and was excavated in the 1970s.
(7)
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