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XXI.—An account of the Opening of some Tumuli in the East Riding of Yorkshire. By the Right Hon. the LORD LONDESBOROUGH, F.S.A.

Read Dec. 4, 1851.

DEAR MR. AKERMAN, Piccadilly, Nov. 28th, 1851. I send you an account of the opening of some Tumuli, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, under my directions, in the autumn of the present Year, and will thank you to lay the same before the Society of Antiquaries at some early meeting. I am happy in this opportunity of adding to the information which the Society has already acquired on the subject of the primaeval remains of our native land; and I am, Yours, very sincerely, LONDESBOROUGH. To J. Y. Akerman, Esq. Secretary, Society of Antiquaries.

October 17th. In a field in the occupation of Mr. Hopper, of Kellythorpe, and situated behind the Kings Mill, near Driffield, is a large mound, which forms a very conspicuous object, being from seven to eight feet above the ground, on the east side, where, it is evident, the soil has been taken from, to form the hill. On the west side, it is but slightly elevated above the adjoining ground, with which it is connected by a neck or ridge. On its summit was discernible a slight depression or basin. At the base, it measured nearly twenty yards in diameter. A cutting was made in the centre, four yards by five; the soil lay in the most irregular manner, in small heaps of different kinds, interspersed with fine grarel. On going lower down, the chief composition was a stiff clay. At about three feet from the top, traces of bones were discovered; but, as it was getting dark, further research was deferred till next morning.

Oct. 18th. At 6 o'clock the following morning, the work was resumed; and the traces of bones followed, which proved to be those of a skeleton lying in the usual contracted position, with the hands bent up towards the face from the elbow. It 252 Account of the Opening of Tumuli lay nearly due east, with the face looking to the south ; the skull was much crushed, but the other bones appeared to be in a very fair state of preservation. Immediately above the skull was a rude spear-head of flint (Plate XX. fig. 1,) which was all that accompanied this body. There seemed every probability that this was the original interment, from its proximity to the centre, and the undisturbed soil appearing immediately under it. A considerable surface having now been bared, without any further indication of more burials having taken place, the sides were pulled into the cutting, but nothing more was discovered. Not far from the first barrow, is another, of about the same diameter, but not more than four feet high ; although several persons can recollect its having been much higher previous to the inclosure of the land. It is situated in a field called The Greets, skirted on two sides by the Beverley and Market Weighton roads, and is in the occupation of Mr. Hopper. The individuals before mentioned spoke of quantities of bones having been turned up by the plough when the hill was brought into cultivation, which were re-interred. This proved to be correct; for at a very slight depth in the centre were found the disturbed remains of several skeletons. On the north side of the cutting, a few inches from the top, was a large sand-stone flag, in a slanting position, and on coming to the natural bottom was another, but of much larger size, laid flat, and a smaller one standing upright; at the west end, a little to the south, was a fourth, much in the same position as that first discovered. The hollow sound emitted by the largest of the stones on being struck favoured the opinion that it might be the cover to a vault, which, on clearing away the earth from its edge, was found to be the case; for, at one corner was a hole just of sufficient size to admit a hand and arm, by which means the sides of the interior could be felt. As the stone was more than seven or eight men could remove, a tripod or set of tackle poles and windlass were borrowed from Mr. Hopper, by means of which the lid was raised, but again lowered to its original position till Monday. The removal of the surrounding soil was again resumed, and on the south side was discovered a very large skeleton (close to the fourth stone before mentioned) : it lay in the usual contracted position, on the left side, and about twenty inches from the side of the cist, but was unaccompanied by any weapon or ornament. Towards the east end were traces of an extensive fire, the chalk-gravel having evidently been subjected to intense heat, which had turned it to a brick-red colour. The day being far spent, the work was suspended till the following Monday. in the East Riding of Yorkshire. 253

REFERENCE. No. 1. Cist, showing position of skeleton, cover, &c. No. 5. Two skeletons, with urn, spear, and piece of bone, &c. „ 2. Sand-stones set round the vault. „ G. Fragments of Roman, British, or Saxon pottery. „ 3. Large skeleton. „ 7. Several skeletons, with spear, fibula, &c. ,, 4. Traces of fire, with a skeleton laid at full length across.

On Monday the operations were resumed, and in a short time, on the north side were discovered a considerable mass of bones, which, on examination, proved to be those of two skeletons laid one upon the other ; the bones were so intermixed that it was impossible to distinguish to which they belonged. One of the skulls was in excellent preservation, the other much crushed and broken. Just above the whole head was an urn of coarse British pottery (Plate XX. fig. 9), ornamented with rows of large perforations; also a flint spear-head neatly formed and chipped (fig. 3). Amongst the bones of the hand belonging to one of those skeletons was a curious piece of bone of about 1^ in. long, and \ an inch thick, with a small projection 254 Account of the Opening of Tumuli in the middle. On one side in this projection was a hole, through which had been fastened a small hollow iron ball the size of a marble, to which had been attached a thin strip of wood and iron, as if the metal had been fastened between two sides of thin wood ; this ran in a straight direction from the little ball at the top (Plate XX. fig. 2) ; but, with the exception of the bone to which the whole had been attached, and part of the ball, corrosion had completely destroyed it, for on being touched it crumbled into dust; what it had been could not be conjectured, but from the position in which it was found it seemed as if the bone had lain across the hand, and the part suspended from it had passed between the fingers in a straight line. There is every probability that the individual to whom the urn and spear-head belonged had been of an earlier date than the vault, as the urn; which was within six inches of the cover, had a long thin stone of the same description placed over it, with one end resting on the top of the large stone, evidently for the purpose of pro- tecting it when the soil had been thrown on the vault. The iron would indicate a still more recent date, but whether it belonged to the topmost of the two skeletons was impossible to determine. Having completely removed these two interments, and a considerable quantity of the surrounding soil, without meeting with anything more, preparations were made to investigate the contents of the vault. The tackle poles being fixed, the lid was again raised and deposited on one side, displaying the contents of the tomb, which was entirely free from soil, so that every- thing could be seen at a glance exactly in the position in which it was placed when interred. This rude sarcophagus was sunk in the ground till the top of the sides, which were formed of four slabs of sand-stone, came on a level with the natural surface, and was paved with small irregular pieces of the same. The dimensions were: on the north side, 3 feet 9 in. ; on the south, 4 ft. 2 in.; on the east, 2 ft. 5 in.; and on the west, 2 ft. 11 in.; and 2 ft. 6 in. in depth. On the floor lay a skeleton of large size, the thigh bones measuring 19 inches; it was placed in a similar position to those before mentioned, with the knees drawn up and lying on the left side, the hands bent towards the face (Plate XX. fig. 7) ; the bones of the right arm were laid in a very singular and beautiful armlet, made of some large animal's bone, about six inches long, and the extremities (which were a little broader than the middle) neatly squared (fig. 8) ; in this were two per- forations about ^ an inch from each end, through which were bronze pins or rivets with gold heads, most probably to attach it to a piece of leather which had passed round the arm, and been fastened by a small bronze buckle, which was found under- in the East Riding of Yorkshire. 255 neath the bones. Immediately behind the vertebrae, and as if it had fallen from the waist, was a small bronze dagger in a wooden sheath, having a handle of the same ; round the neck were three large amber heads (figg. 4, 5), of conical form, having the under side flat, and which were pierced by two holes running upwards in a slanting direction till they met at the centre. At the lower end of the vault, between the extremity of the spine and the feet,, was a highly ornamented drinking cup (fig. 6), completely covered with rows of marks and indentations, each row being divided by ridges or bands ; about the centre of the pavement in front of the body, was the upper part of a hawk's head and beak. A mass of what seemed to be linen cloth lay under the entire length of the skeleton, but the interstices were so filled up with animal matter as to give it the appearance of leather ; there was, however, a portion about 2 inches long and f wide, laid across one of the thigh bones, which shewed the texture of the fabric very plainly, and from the quantity of these re- mains it is very likely the body had been wrapped in linen from head to foot. The skull was in a much worse condition than several others which had been found, the whole of the facial bones being decayed ; it is of a very peculiar round form, and quite different from any other belonging to this tumulus. The contents of the cist having been thoroughly examined, attention was next turned to the traces of fire before alluded to. It covered a space of about five feet in diameter; and fragments of bone belonging to different skeletons more or less burnt were met with throughout the extent of the fire. In the centre of the burnt gravel, and where it was evident the heat had been most intense, lay a skeleton at full length, the vertebras and middle portions completely calcined, but the extremities not so much destroyed; quantities of charcoal were met with, both above and below the bones; the red gravel formed a conical heap, and it was evident the fire had subsided before the earth had been placed over it, as there is no appearance of the latter having been subjected to any heat. Portions of two vases of Romano-British or Saxon pottery were found scattered over the north and eastern parts of the barrow ; being at a considerable depth, it was remarkable they should have been so much disturbed, which must have been caused by the depositing of a later interment, but there was nothing to prove which were the remains of the individual last interred. The number of interments in this tumulus had been very considerable, the remains of ten different skeletons having been exhumed during the investigation. The head of one is peculiarly long and narrow, and near it was found a circular fibula of bronze (figured in the next page); this was at the west end: but, several other skeletons being laid close together, and at all angles, nothing satisfactory 256 Account of the Opening of Tumuli

could be made of them. There was also a rude flint spear-head and a joint of some large animal's back-bone turned up in the same place. The mound having been nearly all turned over, and to every appearance being on the outside of the deposits, all the bones were collected and placed in the vault, the lid was again lowered to its former position, and, after placing the other stones round it in the manner they were found, the remainder of the day was occupied by filling in and restoring the hill to its former shape. Preparations were made to open some of the very numerous barrows on and in the neighbourhood of Goodmanham Wolds, near Londesborough; they number between thirty and forty in a space not more than a mile across. Some of them are of great size, varying in height from two to eleven or twelve feet. There is no appearance of any of them having been opened, except one in the barn-field, which was nearly levelled some six or seven years ago by Mr. Appleton, the tenant. Mr. Leighton, of Goodmanham, who was present at the opening and had the objects found in his possession, describes the contents as follows, which he believes to be pretty nearly correct:— The cutting was commenced on the west side; a little way towards the centre great quantities of charcoal, ashes, and burnt bones, mixed with red or burnt soil, were discovered, which ran completely over the interior of the mound. In the centre of this coloured strata was an urn of unbaked clay, perfect, another partially damaged, and a considerable number of fragments of one or two more. Immediately on the top of these interments were two whole skeletons unburnt. Another barrow, of much less size and near to the first, was partially opened at the same time, but did not produce anything. On Wednesday, October 23d, operations were commenced on a small hill near to he one mentioned as having been opened by Mr. Leighton: it measured about twelve yards across, and was about two feet and a half deep in the centre. The rock was soon reached and bared for a considerable space. Slight traces of fire in the East Riding of Yorkshire. 257 were observable throughout the centre ; but, towards the north-west side, the indi- cations of cremation were much stronger, which, on being followed, led to a small hole in the rock about twenty feet in depth, and the same in diameter at the mouth, and drawing to a point at the bottom : this was completely filled with bones, very much burnt, and almost all reduced to ashes. There was also a considerable quan- tity of charcoal mixed with them. In the middle of this hole was a small rude incense-cup, perfectly plain ; about three inches across in the widest part; and near the bottom was another of the same proportions and shape, but ornamented by a row of parallel lines running in a vertical direction, and another row reversed. The second did not seem to have been so much burnt as the one first found, which was black, or nearly so. No other deposit was found in this tumulus.

A much larger mound in the same field was the next examined. It was a little more than six feet high, and nearly twenty yards in diameter. A cutting was made in the centre about four yards square. The top was composed of soil to the depth of from two to three feet, under which the remainder of the structure was a stiff and tenacious clay. VOL. xxxiv. 2 L 258 Account of the Opening of Tumuli in the East Riding of Yorkshire. The first object of interest discovered was an oval, formed of six large flint holders, about four yards on the north-west side of the centre. From the appear- ance of this curious structure, it seemed as if it had been formed to contain an urn. Whatever was the object of its construction, nothing was found within several yards of it. Near the centre, and at the depth of six feet from the top, was a deposit of burnt bones, accompanied by a very highly ornamented British urn (fig. 10); it measures 4£ inches in height, and 6 inches in width at the top. A little below the rim is a band or groove, in which, at regular distances, are four small knobs or pro- jections. It is completely covered with sharp incisions, and on the bottom is a cross, made by double rows of small holes running from side to side and crossing in the centre. The urn, when found, was twelve or fourteen inches from the deposit of burnt bones, but there was every appearance of its belonging to them. Six feet to the east of the last-mentioned interment was another large mass of burnt bones, but unaccompanied by any article usually found in connexion with similar deposits. In the clay composing this barrow were discernible several seams of decayed wood, or charcoal, following the conical shape of the hill throughout. From the great difficulty in removing the clay much time was spent without pro- ducing anything encouraging; therefore, the most of it having been turned over the hill was made up again. Another small mound, on the north-east side of the large one just mentioned, was opened, but with little success, as it contained nothing but a small mass of calcined bones. October 29. At Little Driffield, in a field in the occupation of I. D. Conyers, Esq. is a hill of great height for the circumference. It is composed entirely of sand. On the removal of most of the mound, nothing was found to indicate its artificial formation, except a few pieces of red pottery (from appearance Roman), and some bits of much corroded iron. Vol.1XXI\': Plate IX.p. 258. y. /.

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