Bronze Age Cists at Mill Field
In 1934, Bedlington Urban District Council began to lay out an estate of houses on the Mill Field, an area of land just to the south of the town and on the edge of the valley of the River Blyth. During works prior to construction, the levelling of a ridge revealed five sunken cist burials in one part of the site (Purvis 1947, 322-4). All were constructed with sandstone side slabs and cover stones. One contained a female burial with an ‘earthenware pot’; one a burial with a ‘beaker’; another cist, described by Purvis as a ‘large chamber’ with what appeared to be a side opening contained only a few bone fragments and a flint knife. A small crudely built cist next to this large chamber contained the remains of a cremation and an earthenware pot (since identified as a Bipartite vase). The final cist contained a burial but no grave goods. They are all readily identifiable as burials of the Bronze Age. No controlled excavation was undertaken at the time and cists and contents were apparently damaged by onlookers. A photograph in the Newcastle City Library Local Studies Collection shows one of the burials in situ. Another more intriguing photograph from the collection shows an enclosure and a round barrow in Bedlington.
This is from a survey commissioned by Northumberland County Council that includes prehistoric finds and information. The pictures are fascinating and the cists were discovered literally across the road from where I live. Still buried there perhaps? The barrow looks like it was originally constructed on the local golf course but there is no trace of it now. This is the first I have heard of anything like this in the immediate area and it seems quite shocking that the photographs are buried in a collection 15 miles away from the town they record.
Does anyone have any more information on this? I would be very interested to hear any insights or knowledge related to this. Thanks.
 Reply | with quote | Posted by ScottyBoy789
20th December 2015ce
18:10 |
Bedlington, Northumberland - Cist and Burial Mound (ScottyBoy789, Dec 20, 2015, 18:10) |
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