Trow Rocks barrow, inhumation

In 1873, after workmen had discovered a cist in the Trow Rocks barrow, the site was investigated by Greenwell. "At the centre was a cist, consisting of six stones set on edge, two on each side and one at each end, with two cover- stones; some thin pieces of stone were set on the side stones to make the top level and to support the covers. The cist lay north north-west and south south-east, and was 4 feet long, 2 feet wide, and 1 feet 10 inches deep, sunk into the clay which there overlies the limestone, the covers being on the level of the natural surface". The cist contained a crouched inhumation, "a skeleton, apparently of a man, very much decayed, laid on the right side, with the head to south-east...", some pieces of charcoal and a flint knife, made from an outside flake, and measuring 2 3/8 inches long and 1 1/4 inches wide. "The slabs of the cist, which were of marl, were removed to the residence of the late Mr. P.J. Messent, then engineer to the Tyne Commissioners, at Tynemouth".