Marden, Kirklington Road, human skull

In August 2003, a human skull was found whilst digging a flower bed adjacent to the rear outhouse extension of the property. This area was previously covered with mature bushes which had been in place for many years, possibly since the house was built in 1951. The skull was in a very good state of preservation, minus the lower jaw and front incisors. A discoid fracure on the right cheek was caused by the garden fork when the skull was unearthed. It was examined by a police pathologist who pronounced it to be of considerable antiquity at which point the County Archaeologist was informed. The site was photographed and then cleaned back by trowel. The skull was within and underlain by modern garden soil and building material. The close proximity to the Marden cropmark enclosure (HER 304) strongly suggests a late prehistoric or Romano-British date for the skull. The find-spot is 100 metres south-west of the southern boundary of the site excavated by George Jobey in 1961. As the skull lay within modern garden soil it was clearly not in-situ, but probably derived from somewhere nearby. The most probable origin is a burial site associated with the enclosure which was disturbed when the semi-detached houses were built on Ennerdale/Solway/Kirklington Road estate. The skull was probably incorporated with the top soil which was subsequently put back into the rear garden when building work was complete. Deposited with the Museum of Antiquities.