North Hill and Table Hill, Malvern

Bronze Age Burials on the Northern Hills

Just two miles east of Mathon, further burials were found atop Worcestershire Beacon and North Hill. An eighteenth century book (M.Southall's Description of Malvern) mentions a collapsed tumulus on North Hill known as the Giant's Grave, and another possible one just to the south on Table Hill. In 1849, Private Harkiss discovered a cremation on the south side of a summit-top cairn on Worcestershire Beacon - ashes, a skull and other bones, and a decorated urn were uncovered. To the north of the cairn was a second cremation. If connected with the probable settlement at Mathon, there may be some symbolic significance in these hilltop mounds - which may have been visible on the eastern skyline from Mathon. Between North Hill and Worcestershire Beacon is the well-known St.Anne's Well which may have been in use even in the Bronze Age. Roy Palmer speculates that its name may come from the Celtic goddess Anu.