Fairies Cradle or Castle cairn
Fairies Cradle or Castle cairn
HER Number
249
District
Sunderland
Site Name
Fairies Cradle or Castle cairn
Place
Hetton-le-Hole
Map Sheet
NZ34NE
Class
Religious Ritual and Funerary
Site Type: Broad
Burial Cairn
Site Type: Specific
Burial Cairn
General Period
PREHISTORIC
Specific Period
Bronze Age -2,600 to -700
Form of Evidence
Documentary Evidence
Description
In 1816 the antiquarian Surtees recorded "a remarkable tumulus, consisting entirely of field-stones gathered together", situated in a field "on the right-hand side of the road from Eppleton to Hetton and only one field from Houghton-Lane". In the top of the cairn was a small oblong hollow known as the Fairies Cradle. Later authorities call this monument a 'barrow' and agree that it contained one or more pottery vessels
Easting
435370
Northing
547710
Grid Reference
NZ435370547710
Sources
<< HER 249 >> R. Surtees, 1816, History of...Durham, Vol. I, pt. 2, p. 214
E. Mackenzie & M. Ross, 1834, History of...Durham, Vol. I, p. 369
Newcastle W.H.D. Longstaffe, 1852, Durham before the Conquest, Proceedings of the Archaeological Institute, Vol. I, p. 75, n. 6
W. Fordyce, 1857, History of...Durham, Vol. II, p. 580
W. Greenwell, 1877, British Barrows pp. 441-2
Transactions Architectural & Archaeological Society of Durham and Northumberland, 1884, A Prae-Historic cist burial at Sacriston, Vol. 3 (for 1880-1884), pp. 183-4
R. Young, 1980, An Inventory of Barrows in Co. Durham, Transactions Architectural & Archaeological Society of Durham and Northumberland, New series, Vol. 5, p. 8 no. 33
R. Miket, 1984, The Prehistory of Tyne and Wear, p. 54, no. 2
Dept. Pal. & Dip. Durham, Ordnance Survey maps, 1st ed. 1:2500 Durham XX.8
E. Mackenzie & M. Ross, 1834, History of...Durham, Vol. I, p. 369
Newcastle W.H.D. Longstaffe, 1852, Durham before the Conquest, Proceedings of the Archaeological Institute, Vol. I, p. 75, n. 6
W. Fordyce, 1857, History of...Durham, Vol. II, p. 580
W. Greenwell, 1877, British Barrows pp. 441-2
Transactions Architectural & Archaeological Society of Durham and Northumberland, 1884, A Prae-Historic cist burial at Sacriston, Vol. 3 (for 1880-1884), pp. 183-4
R. Young, 1980, An Inventory of Barrows in Co. Durham, Transactions Architectural & Archaeological Society of Durham and Northumberland, New series, Vol. 5, p. 8 no. 33
R. Miket, 1984, The Prehistory of Tyne and Wear, p. 54, no. 2
Dept. Pal. & Dip. Durham, Ordnance Survey maps, 1st ed. 1:2500 Durham XX.8