Grindon Hill inhumations

HER Number:
158

District:
Sunderland

Site Name:
Grindon Hill inhumations

Place:
Grindon

Map Sheet:
NZ35SE

Class:
Religious Ritual and Funerary

Site Type: Broad:
Burial

Site Type: Specific:
Inhumation

General Period:
Early Medieval

Specific Period:

Form of Evidence:
Find

Description:
In 1905 skeletons were found during quarrying of sand and gravel on Grindon Hill. Earthworks were also exposed on top of the hill. These consisted of two circular depressions, side by side, the distance across both being 68 feet east-west, the larger having a north-south diameter of 49 feet, the smaller 31 feet. Running east from them was a "raised trench or barrow", 126 feet long, 6 feet wide and 9 inches high. In the barrow were found 9 skeletons, all with their heads to the west, and "placed in a V-shape". More burials were found later: in 1952, the then O.S. field investigator, after an interview with J. Wilson, curator of the Sunderland Museum, wrote "...labourers on the site stated that numerous skeletons, always with head to the west, were found in the top 3 feet of the quarry. No accompanying finds were discovered...". The quarry is now filled in, and area grassed as public open space.

Easting:
359

Northing:
546

Grid Reference:
NZ359546

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
<< HER 158 >> J. Robinson, 1907, Ancient Remains discovered at Grindon Hill, near Sunderland,Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle, 3, II, pp. 197-99 D. Woolacott,1909, The Physical Geography of Sunderland and District, Antiquities of Sunderland Vol. VIII (for 1907), p. 77 C.T. Trechmann, 1914, Prehistoric Burials in the County of Durham, Archaeologia Aeliana, 3, XI, p. 137 Ordnance Survey archaeological record card, JHO, 1952, Possible tumulus (site): Possible Anglo-Saxon burials. R. Miket, 1984, The Prehistory of Tyne and Wear, p. 72, no. 9.2 R. Young, 1980, An Inventory of Barrows in Co. Durham, Transactions Architectural & Archaeological Society Durham & Northumberland, New Series, Vol. 5, p. 12 no. 90