Silksworth, Steeple Hill, cist in barrow

In February, 1876, the small natural mound of sand and gravel, with a small barrow on top, called Steeple Hill, was removed. Inside it was a cist laid east-west, 4 feet long x 2.5 feet wide x less than 2.5 feet deep, constructed of 4 whin boulders, 2 on each side, and with end and cover stones of limestone. The cist contained "the skeleton of a man past middle life, laid in the contracted position…. Two 'food vessels' had been deposited close to the chest of the man", and in one was a cremation of a child under 12. One of the vessels was a bipartite vessel with shoulder groove and 5 unpierced lugs, and decorated with incised herring bone pattern, the other probably bipartite, and decorated with encircling and vertical cord lines. Both are lost. A second skeleton, of a woman past middle life, was found 3 feet west of the cist.