|
 Log in |
Register
|
|
|
Hyde Hill Plantation (Tarrant Launceston)Barrow / Cairn Cemetery
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
0 discussions
Show map (inline Google Map)
|
|
|
Miscellaneous |
 Add miscellaneous |
|
THE LAUNCESTON SEPULCHRALIA Details of cremation cemetery on Pastscape Monument No. 210246 A cremation cemetery of possible Early or Middle Bronze Age date discovered during the mid-19th century and reported on briefly by Charles Warne. It was discovered by some labourers "employed in the preparation of the Down for planting", something that required deep trenching. Warne's account is a little ambiguous - he refers to the labourers' discovery of a dense layer of flints some 12 to 18 inches deep and circa 12 feet in diameter just below the surface. Beneath this layer was "a stratum of dark unctuous mould, interspersed with charcoal, ashes, pieces of bone, and numerous fragments of coarse pottery; whilst at the bottom appeared a range of cists cut in the natural chalk, which were filled with burnt bones and ashes". Warne also stated that there "seemed to have been a series of these sepulchralia within a space of one hundred and fifty yards, all presenting an uniformity of arrangement and contents". The date of these burials is unclear. Warne compared the contents with items found in some of the barrows in the area, suggesting an Early or Middle Bronze Age date. The pottery vessels do not appear to survive, and no illustration of any of them is known. |
Posted by Chance2nd April 2016ce |
|
The Hyde Hill Plantation Group comprises thirteen barrows (23–35) in two concentrations in and S.E. of the plantation; they lie between 340 ft. and 360 ft. above O.D. along the crest of a broad Chalk ridge between the Tarrant and Crichel Brooks. Most of them have been severely damaged by ploughing and (28), (29), (31) and (35) have been obliterated. Two barrows excavated by Warne in 1840 probably lay in this group; one of them yielded a primary cremation under a flint cairn, the other yielded only charcoal and ashes (C.T.D., Pt. 1, Nos. 39 and 40). The 'Launceston Sepulchralia' examined by Warne in 1840 probably lay in this area; it appears to have been a cremation cemetery, with the cremations in groups of holes in the chalk, each group being covered with a layer of closely packed flint nodules (C.T.D., Pt. 1, 57–8; Arch. J., CVIII (1951), 14, note 1). (23) Bowl (95081041), in the plantation; diam. 45 ft., ht. 2½ ft., with traces of surrounding ditch. (24) Bowl (95111043); diam. 40 ft., ht. 2½ ft., with traces of surrounding ditch. (25) Bowl (95141043), immediately E. of the plantation, has been much denuded by ploughing; diam. about 30 ft., ht. less than 1 ft. (26) Bowl (95111038), immediately S. of the plantation; diam. 40 ft., ht. 3½ ft. (27) Bowl (95161040), now nearly levelled by ploughing; diam. about 28 ft. (28) Bowl (95151042), now levelled by ploughing; former diam. about 25 ft. (29) Bowl (95281032), now levelled by ploughing; former diam. about 21 ft. (30) Bowl (95341024), heavily ploughed; diam. 40 ft., ht. 1 ft. (31) Bowl (95401017), now levelled by ploughing; former diam. 44 ft. (32) Bowl (95421020), a flat-topped mound; diam., diminished by ploughing, 48 ft., ht. 3½ ft.; traces of surrounding ditch. (33) Bowl (95451019), a steep-sided mound; diam. 55 ft., ht. 8 ft.; with well-defined ditch (Dorset Barrows, Long Crichel, No. 24). (34) Bowl (95441021), damaged by ploughing and by digging on the S.; diam. 36 ft., ht. 1½ ft. (35) Bowl (95451024), now levelled by ploughing; former diam. 33 ft., ht. 1½ ft. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/dorset/vol4/pp105-107#h3-0005 |
Posted by Chance 2nd April 2016ce |
|
Details of barrows on Pastscape The Hyde Hill Plantation group of Bronze Age round barrows, which initially comprised 13 barrows in two concentrations within and south east of the plantation, along the crest of a broad chalk ridge between the Tarrant and Crichel Brooks. Barrow "A" is recorded here and the other 12 barrows, previously described here, have now been recorded separately, as ST 91 SE 193 to 204. Two of the barrows have been tentatively identified with a pair of barrows opened by Charles Warne in 1840, although it is impossible to determine which. Several additional barrows have subsequently been identified (see ST 91 SE 233, 234, 236 and ST 91 SW 116). Barrow "A" is a Bronze Age bowl barrow which was listed by RCHME as Tarrant Launceston 23 and by Grinsell as Tarrant Launceston 14a. Lying within the plantation itself, RCHME described the barrow as a mound 45 feet in diameter and 2.5 feet high, with traces of a surrounding ditch. |
Posted by Chance 2nd April 2016ce |
Top of page