Maiden’s Bower

Nearest town:
Durham (3km ENE)
OS reference:
NZ264427
OS sheet:
88
Latitude:
54° 46' 41.89 N
Longitude:
1° 35' 22.26 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Maiden’s Bower (Round Barrow(s)) by FARMERDODDS

Looking south along a the ridge to the second barrow from the Maiden’s Bower.

Image credit: FARMERDODDS
F
FARMERDODDS Dec 18, 2022
Image of Maiden’s Bower (Round Barrow(s)) by FARMERDODDS

A view of the second barrow which lies to the south of the main barrow. The barrow looks like it has been quarried out at some point, the middle of the top of the barrow is missing and there is a deep trench like hole on the eastern side, which almost looks like it have sunk.

Image credit: FARMERDODDS
F
FARMERDODDS Dec 18, 2022
Image of Maiden’s Bower (Round Barrow(s)) by FARMERDODDS

This images shows the Maiden’s Bower to the left with the footpath snaking up the it’s summit. To the right there is a second barrow hidden under the bramble’s and partially destroyed. The trees in the foreground are victim’s of Storm Arwen which hit just over a year ago.

Image credit: FARMERDODDS
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FARMERDODDS Dec 18, 2022
Image of Maiden’s Bower (Round Barrow(s)) by FARMERDODDS

LiDAR image which shows that it not alone, it is part of a larger complex that stretchers south with at least one more possible barrow. There are two springs the merge together at the eastern end of the complex that may also have had some relation the sacred set up.

Image credit: FARMERDODDS
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FARMERDODDS Dec 18, 2022

Articles

Miscellaneous

Maiden’s Bower
Round Barrow(s)
TomBo
TomBo Aug 13, 2003

This site, a scheduled monument, is recorded in the County Durham Sites & Monuments Register, which cites Robert Young’s invaluable PHD thesis of 1984, Wear Valley Prehistory, as its source:

“Small, round, flat-topped mound on a natural sand hill on the south side of Flass Vale. Diameter 8.2m. Height 1.5m. The mound is at the northeast end of the hill and is closely overlooked by higher ground. The top of the hill has been levelled, leaving a ‘berm’ around the barrow, but the possible remains of a ditch and exterior bank are visible on the southwest side (ditch 0.3m. deep, 2m. wide). The barrow is in good condition and commands good views of the Wear Valley. The earliest records of the site are in 1346, when at the Battle of Neville’s Cross the Durham monks raised the ‘corporax cloth’ of St. Cuthbert there. A wooden cross stood until 1569.”

Sites within 20km of Maiden’s Bower

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