299 the Collection of Tumuli, Known As Danes' Graves, Occur on the Wolds

Downloaded from http://pygs.lyellcollection.org/ at University of Iowa on May 24, 2015 299 NOTES ON THE DANES1 GRAVES NEAR DRIFFIELD. BY THE REV. E. MAULE COLE, M.A., F.G.S. The collection of tumuli, known as Danes' Graves, occur on the Wolds, at the junction of three parishes—Great Driffield, Nafferton, and Kilham. They are actually in the parish of Great Driffield, though in some reports they are described as being in the parish of Kilham. They are situated immediately to the south of a line of entrenchments which, roughly speaking, extends from Flamborough Head to Garrowby Hill top. This line of entrench• ments is remarkable for the fact that it forms the boundaries of all parishes from York to Flamborough. It is more or less sinuous, and, in all probability, marks the track of an ancient British way from Eburac (our modern York) to the coast. It may have been utilized by the Romans after their conquest of the country, as there is evidence (obtained by my friend, Mr. J. R. Mortimer) of a Roman- British cemetery on both sides of the road, in the parish of Wetwang- with-Fimber, but I think that the Romans constructed another road in the rear, at a higher elevation, from Fridaythorpe, through Sledmere and Octon to Bridlington Bay, known as the High Street. The site of Pretorium, mentioned in the itinerary of Antonine, has long been a matter of dispute, and is so still, but when it is con• sidered that the Romans would probably wish to have access by sea to such an important place as Eburacum, then the capital of Britannia, it is not improbable that they would select the shortest land route, to which an ancient British way already pointed. The destruction of the boulder-clay cliffs to the south of Flamborough Head, wdiich, since the Roman occupation, has resulted in a loss of some two miles of coast-line, will account for the fact that we are unable to point out the site of the lost Pretorium. Like some antiquaries, -with little knowledge of the district, it is "all at sea." One thing is almost certain—which I have often insisted on in various papers-—that the Romans would never dream of rounding Downloaded from http://pygs.lyellcollection.org/ at University of Iowa on May 24, 2015 300 COLE : NOTES ON THE DANES' GRAVES NEAR DRIFFIELD. the terrible headland of Flamborough, Buckton, and Bempton, to land in Filey Bay, when they could find a commodious and safe shelter in that of Bridlington. To revert, however, to the so-called Danes' Graves. They are actually contiguous to the ancient British way above alluded to, all on the south side of it. On the Ordnance Map they are shown as closely grouped together as cobbles in a pavement, to the number of 197, but their number must have been far greater before the land was disturbed by ploughing, as the adjacent fields show the remains of many others which have been levelled down. In all probability 400 or 500 graves were once as well visible as those now to be seen. Similar groups of graves are (or were) to be seen at Arras, and at Scorborough, both in the East Riding. This special grouping is utterly unlike anything to be met with on the Wolds, though Mr. Mortimer for the elucidation of his excellent collection from barrows on the Wolds, has grouped together certain tumuli, and has founded thereon a star theory, which, unfortunately, I am not able to agree with. The peculiar grouping of the graves at Danes' Graves, and the other places mentioned, points to a settled occupation. No battlefield would account for so many separate graves. We must rather look upon them as an ancient cemetery of a settled population. When we come to look at the contents, which will be fully described in a future paper by Mr. Mortimer, we shall find that they are quite different from the mass of tumuli on the Yorkshire W^olds, and of a much later date. In the earlier tumuli there is very little trace of bronze, and none whatever of iron. Out of 300 tumuli on the Wolds, examined by Mr. Mortimer, only about 12 showed any trace of bronze, which was comparatively unknown when they were located. Hence we must assign the earlier mounds partly to the Stone Age and partly an early period in the Bronze Age. The knives, celts, saws, and other instruments as arrowheads and spears, are all of flint or stone. The bodies were mostly inhumed, not cremated; later on, as authorities tell us, bodies in the Bronze Age were mostly cremated. Both kinds of interment, however, occur in the same mounds on the Wolds. Downloaded from http://pygs.lyellcollection.org/ at University of Iowa on May 24, 2015 Downloaded from http://pygs.lyellcollection.org/ at University of Iowa on May 24, 2015 COLE : NOTES ON THE DANES' GRAVES NEAR DRIFFIELD. 301 This year, 1897, Mr. Mortimer fortunately obtained permission from Mr. Harrison-Broadley, the owner of the soil, to make an examination of the Danes' Graves. Some twelve or more mounds were opened by experienced workmen. The result was highly satisfactory. In one grave a beautiful enamelled bronze pin was unearthed (plate xliii.), characteristic of the late Bronze Age; in another, two chariot wheel tyres of iron, with iron bits, and bronze trappings for the horses. Such remains of British charioteers have, as far as I know, only been found in the East Riding of Yorkshire, and those at Arras.* The date may be assigned to 100 years before or after the Christian era. This discovery does away with the popular nomenclature Domes' Graves. The mounds situated in Danesdale are not those of Danes at all. They are far more ancient than the incursion of the Danes, or Vikings, on the East coast of Yorkshire, Avhich occurred in the 8th or 9th century. Like the Danes' Dike at Flamborough, which was carefully examined and tested by Major-Gen. Pitt-Rivers in 1879, and proved by him to have been the work of men using flint weapons only, the name of Danes' Graves has simply been preserved in popular tradition because the Danes were the last dread marauders who ravaged the East coast, and destroyed hamlets and churches alike. Doubtless the formidable Dike which runs from end to end across the promontory of Flamborough, was utilized by the Danes, as it was by the Romans before them, but it was thrown up by an earlier people using flint weapons, and so with the graves in Danesdale. They are the remains of a race existing in almost prehistoric times, and if I might venture to offer a suggestion I think it not unlikely that they represent a burial place of the Parisi, who, as distinguished from the Brigantes, are said to have occupied Holderness. *A chariot wheel was foviiid by Mr. Kendal on the moors, N. K. .

Load more