SUMMARY
This report details the results of an archaeological excavation at the Bowl Hole, adjacent to Bamburgh Castle, Northumberland [NU 18693484], undertaken by The Bamburgh Castle Research Project during August 1998, has confirmed the existence of a long cist cemetery at the site.
Reports from the nineteenth century describe the uncovering of a number of stone-lined graves after a storm in 1817. Subsequent antiquarian investigation suggested that these graves may have been part of a long cist cemetery, of probable early medieval date.
The site is known to have been the subject of periodic erosion during the present century. Northumberland County Council therefore made available a grant for limited excavation in order to establish the nature of the site and state of preservation of the remains, together with their vulnerability to further erosion.
A total of 7 grave cuts were identified within a 5m square trench (trench 1), a mixture of both stone-lined burials and simple dug graves. Two distinct grave orientations were noted (figure 3). Distinct groups and concentrations of disarticulated human bone were found both on the surface and within the excavated graves. Due to the apparent complexity of the burials, none could be excavated to their full depth within the time available.
In most cases, the graves did not indicate modern disturbance. The concentrations of bone within the cuts may be the result of reuse of the graves for additional burials, the disturbed remains of the earlier burials possibly deliberately retained for re-inclusion.
A second trench dug to the east contained no burial cuts. This may imply a formal boundary to the cemetery lies between the trenches.
Overall, the site was found to be in a reasonable state of preservation. The present condition of the turf which seals the cemetery would appear to render the burial ground quite stable at the present time.
The complexity and density of the burials is such, however, that a further season of work is necessary to understand the cemetery’s development and role in relation to the castle site. Funding has been gained for further investigation in the summer of 1999, planned to comprise geophysical survey and excavation to establish an extent and chronology of the site.
Contents
Archaeological and historical background
Appendix: The human skeletal material excavated from Bamburgh, 1998, by Dr. J Langston.
The Bamburgh Castle Research Project
Bamburgh Castle, Northumberland (NU 183 352) is a site of outstanding importance at both regional and national level due to its status as capital of the kingdom of Northumbria in the early medieval period, but also because of the concentration of occupation, which has spanned at least 2000 years, within a site of well-defined physical bounds.
Despite its history, Bamburgh has attracted little in the way of archaeological interest. In an attempt to redress this situation, the Bamburgh Castle Research Project was initiated under the aegis of the Department of Archaeology of Newcastle University by a group of contract archaeologists in order to examine the historic castle site and its surrounding environment using modern archaeological techniques. Initial work during 1996 and 1997 concentrated on non-invasive geophysical and topographic survey techniques within the castle and on documentary research.
Background to the 1998 Season
In addition to initial survey work within the castle, the project aimed to examine the environment of the castle, its relationship to the neighbouring village and its coastal situation. Of immediate interest were antiquarian reports of a burial ground situated above a depression within the dune field known as the Bowl Hole, c.300m south of the castle.
Magnetometer survey was therefore carried out on the ridge of high ground overlooking this area in an attempt to relocate the cemetery. The survey produced a number of discrete geophysical anomalies (Universities of Durham and Newcastle Archaeological Reports 1997, 99-101). Two small trial trenches were excavated within the survey area in autumn 1997 to test the nature of these anomalies, which were found to be of recent or geological origin. Wind-blown sand was found to a depth in excess of 1.2m.
In addition, a single trial trench was excavated to the east, on a lower plateau overlooking the Bowl Hole, marked on the 1st edition Ordnance Survey map as ‘Ancient Danish Burial Ground’. When the turf was removed, the remains of a single cist grave were clearly visible.
The Northumberland County Sites and Monuments Record notes that human bone has periodically been found eroding from the ground around the Bowl Hole at various times up to the 1960s (SMR No: NU13SE12). The Conservation Team of Northumberland County Council was therefore approached regarding the possibility of funding a limited excavation in order to establish the nature of the site and state of preservation of the remains, together with their vulnerability to further erosion. A grant was made available from the Northumberland Coast Management Service through the county’s Environment Department. As the Bowl Hole site lies within a Site of Special Scientific Interest, consent for excavation was given by English Nature.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Bamburgh Castle and Village
Prehistoric activity in the vicinity of Bamburgh is represented by two round barrows to the south of the present village, together with possible prehistoric burials at the Bowl Hole (see below). Excavations in the West Ward of the castle by Hope-Taylor during the late 1960’s indicate that the site was occupied from at least the late Iron Age, and settlement continued throughout the Roman period (Hope-Taylor 1977, n.339). The nature of this occupation is not known, but the defensive nature of the site could indicate a high status settlement. A hoard of late Roman silver is known from a similar hillfort on Traprain Law (East Lothian), and is believed to have been a gift to a local ruler from the Roman authorities (Cleary 1989, 99).
The collapse of Roman rule allowed the emergence or re-emergence of powerful local British rulers. A patchwork of kingdoms are known in the north, such as the Gododdin (in Lothian), Rheged (in Cumbria) and Strathclyde. Many of these kingdoms were centred upon fortresses constructed on volcanic outcrops similar to Bamburgh, such as Dumbarton (Strathclyde) or Castle Rock, Edinburgh (Gododdin). The pre-English name of Bamburgh is recorded by the ninth century British monk Nennius as Din Guardi (Morris 1980, 78). This raises the possibility that Bamburgh was also the centre of a British kingdom.
Eighth and ninth century English and British sources state that Bamburgh was captured from the British by Ida in 547 (Garmonsway 1953, 17). The dynasty which he founded, from which the Bernician kings claimed decent, had made Bamburgh their capital by the early seventh century. With the annexation of the southerly kingdom of Deira in 603, Bamburgh became the principal residence of a combined Northumbria, which at its height in the late seventh century ruled northern England, parts of the midlands and the majority of southern Scotland and whose kings were recognised as Bretwaldas, or overlords of Britain. Bamburgh also became a place of Christian pilgrimage from the mid seventh century as the resting place of the relics of St. Oswald (Bailey 1995, 198-9).
Although York became the principal residence of the Northumbrian kings from the later eighth century, Bamburgh remained the main stronghold for the northern portion of the kingdom. Scandinavian settlement and political control in the southern and western areas of Northumbria during the second half of the ninth century left a much reduced Anglian kingdom, once again based at Bamburgh. The rulers of Bamburgh, although relegated (at least to the chroniclers of southern England) to the status of Ældermen or Earls, remained a considerable force in northern Britain.
While references to Bamburgh in pre-conquest documents use the Latin term urbs to denote the residence of the kings, Bede notes the existence of a separate but linked settlement nearby. St. Aidan is stated as having died within a church in a royal vill (villa regis) near to the urbs of Bamburgh. Royal vills are believed to have been the centres of quite large estates, to which the local people owed some sort of service. (Campbell 1979, 44). The present parish church at Bamburgh is unique as the only known medieval dedication to St. Aidan. This unique dedication, together with the unpopularity of the cult of St. Aidan - in relation to St. Cuthbert at Lindisfarne and St. Oswald at Bamburgh - suggests that the church in which St. Aidan died was the predecessor of the present parish church, and therefore that a royal vill similar to those known at Yeavering, Milfield and Catterick may lie beneath the present village (Cambridge 1995, 136-8). As the principal residence of the seventh century Northumbrian kings, the presence of a considerable settlement at Bamburgh - larger than could be accommodated on the castle site - appears quite likely.
Although nominally part of England immediately after the Norman Conquest, the area north of the Tees remained under the control of local magnates, principally the earls of Bamburgh/Northumberland and the bishops of Durham. The Norman kings used a series of both native and foreign men in an attempt to control north east England up to 1095, when the Earldom of Northumberland was suppressed and the area more fully integrated. Bamburgh castle became one of the principal royal fortresses in the north.
In addition to its royal castle, Bamburgh enjoyed the status of a town or borough in the medieval period. Although a formal royal charter was only granted in 1255, Pipe Roll records from the twelfth century onwards show it consistently paying the higher borough rate of tax (Hodgson 1835, 3-33). A port in existence at Bamburgh is referred to in the town charter. The town of Bamburgh was also the home to three religious foundations. A Dominican friary lay to the east of the present village at Friary Farm. The parish church formed the focus of a cell of the Austin Canons of Nostell Priory, while a hospital is known to have been situated near the town.
The present village of Bamburgh can be classified as a ‘single row regular street village with a green’ (Roberts 1990, 108). The village is surrounded by a substantial quantity of rigg and furrow cultivation marks. Broad rigg is usually thought of as medieval in date, although the practice remained prevalent in the north of Britain until the agricultural improvements of the 18th century (Dixon, 1994, 35-41). The presence of three religious houses, its royal castle and borough status, together with the relatively late date of rigg cultivation, all suggest that the present day village represents a much contracted settlement, probably as a result of the Anglo-Scottish wars of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
The Bowl Hole Burial Ground
Antiquarian reports stated that in 1817 as the result of a great storm, a number of burials were revealed above a low depression called the Bowl Hole, which lies within the dunes c.300m south of the castle. The graves were described as ‘formed of flagstones set on edge’ (Bateson 1893, 56-7). Excavation on the site appears to have taken place in 1894, when several cist burials were seen together with two crouched burials and the remains of an infant ‘at a greater depth’ (P.S.A.N. 1905, 203-4). A small quantity of human bone together with an iron object found at the Bowl Hole were donated to the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle in 1935 (Accession No: 1956.110.A, box 310). Site inspection of the Bowl Hole in the late 1960’s indicated that human bone had recently eroded from the surrounding ground (SMR No: NU13SE12).
From the scanty records available, the burials periodically revealed appear to comprise an unknown number of long cist graves, with three undated though possibly prehistoric inhumations. Long cist cemeteries are common in south east Scotland, clustering particularly within Lothian, although isolated examples have been found throughout northern Britain. Excavated long cist cemeteries have been radiocarbon-dated to between the 3rd to the 8th centuries AD and although generally thought of as a Christian form of burial, the practice may well have begun in the pre-Christian period (Alcock 1992, 126-7). From their distribution, they are thought to represent burials of the British and Picts, although occasional examples have been found in North East England containing pagan Anglian grave goods, for example at Cornforth (Lucy 1999, 33). From the date range of these cemeteries, it has been suggested that the use of long cist cemeteries declined as a new system of diocesan organisation and increase in church building on new sites grew under the influence of the Northumbrian church in the later seventh (Lothian) and eighth (Pictland) centuries (Proudfoot 1996, 444. Alcock 1992, 125).
The graves themselves are found in a range of sub-forms. Some graves comprise the stone equivalent of a wooden coffin, having both side and end slabs, together with slabbed lid and base. Other known forms display incomplete slabbed sides and/or the lack of a stone lid or base. Several recently excavated examples at Whithorn (there termed lintel graves) were identified as having been built from a mixture of stone slabs and timber planks, within a cemetery containing both full cists and simple dug graves (Hill 1997, 71-3). Reuse of individual graves for subsequent burials has been noted at several sites. The Isle of May in the Firth of Forth was a pilgrimage site for the shrine of the Pictish saint Ethernan, and excavation has revealed several reused long cists, where additional burials were placed over earlier inhumations, each separated by a layer of shell and sand (Yeoman and James 1999 193-4). At other sites, residual bones from presumed earlier burials within a grave have been found at the ends of several cists (e.g. Dolland 1992, 199-200).
Trench 1
Trench 1, which measured 5m Square, was located centrally around the long cist burial identified during the trial trenching (see 2.2 above). Removal of the topsoil revealed the presence of 5 certain graves (cuts 103, 105, 109, 113 and 115) together with traces of a further possible two graves (cuts 117 and 118). The clay-silt fills of the burials could be clearly distinguished from the loosely compacted silty sand which formed the subsoil.
From their surface appearance the graves could be divided into four types:
1. stone lined short cist burial
2. stone lined long cists on an east-west alignment
3. grave cuts without stone lining on an east-west alignment
4. grave cuts without a stone lining on a west-north-west to east-south-east alignment
Grave type 1
Grave 105 lay at the extreme north-east corner of the trench, as it was originally laid out. The trench was extended therefore to both north and east in order to recover the full plan of the grave cut. The grave, which measured at 1.44m east-west by 0.93m north-south, was shorter than a grave cut for a supine human burial and was believed to represent a short cist burial. This could indicate a Bronze Age date for the burial. Partial excavation of the grave revealed a complex fill pattern which consisted of mixed lenses of clay-silt and sand intermixed with loose sand. Fragments of animal and human bone fragments were encountered at random within the fill. Traces of a sloping stone slab at the south-east corner could represent either part of a disturbed lining slab of part of a capping stone collapsed into the fill. The burial was excavated to a depth of 0.4m without being bottomed.
The mixed fill and in particular the substantial loose sand lenses taken together with the apparently disturbed bone fragments may indicate a disturbed burial which would cast some doubt on the original shape of the grave compared with that encountered when the trench was opened. Only further excavation can resolve this.
Grave type 2
Grave cut 108 which was discontinuously stone lined and measured 1.56m east-west and 0.62m north-south. The grave was excavated to a depth of 0.6m but not bottomed. The grave contained the disarticulated remains of at least two adult burials, one of which was male and the second of indeterminate sex. Bones from a juvenile aged between 3-4 years were also recovered concentrated in the south-east corner of the burial.
The fill of the grave consisted of a firmly compacted clay-silt with sand which displayed no obvious signs of disturbance. It seems very likely therefore that an articulated inhumation will lie at the base of the grave cut.
Grave type 3
A further clay-silt with sand deposit (112) was located immediately north-west of grave cut 103. This deposit which measured 0.84m north-south and more than 1.4m east-west (it extended beyond the western limit of excavation) in form and scale displayed all the hallmarks of a grave (113).
Grave type 4
A further grave cut (106) was identified 0.5m to the north of grave 103, the grave was substantially rectangular and measured 0.66m north-south and 1.47m east-west. The excavation of the grave was begun quite late in the excavation and when a concentration of bone (109) was encountered within a centrally located, sub-circular cut (111), 0.4m across, it was decided that due to the obvious complexity of the burial, no further excavation would be attempted during the 1998 season. The human bone recovered from the secondary cut consisted of at least one juvenile of indeterminate sex.
One further grave cut (115) on an identical alignment lay 0.74m south east of 106. Two further sub-rectangular cuts (117) and (119) lay 0.5m south-east of grave 103 and 0.35m south of grave 115 respectively.
Trench 2
Trench 2 (not illustrated) was excavated 12m east of trench 1, on an area sloping down gently to the east and north. Removal of turf and topsoil revealed a subsoil of a stony pink sandy clay (204). A possible shallow paleo-channel (203) ran east-west through the centre of the trench (down slope), filled with a sandy material (202). No grave cuts were found within this trench.
The presence of up to 7 burials identified within an area of 5m square would clearly indicate a densely occupied cemetery site, or at the very least a cemetery with some densely occupied areas. The cemetery must have terminated within the space between trench 1 and 2, as trench 2 contained no burial cuts or traces of any cuts. The north, west and south limits of cemetery remains to be determined.
Without further excavation, including the total excavation of a series of graves, it is difficult to offer anything like a complete interpretation of the nature of the burials so far encountered. One hypothesis, at present favoured by the authors, may be offered to account for the disarticulated groups of bones recovered from what are in the most cases archaeological deposits apparently undisturbed in the modern era. This hypothesis assumes that the graves were deliberately disturbed in order to inter further burials within the individual grave cuts, with the disturbed remains returned to the grave in the backfill, possibly having been deliberately retained for this purpose. Such a process may indicate familial re-use of certain graves.
Initial findings suggest a range of grave types, including probable partial cists and simple dug graves. Such a mix is known at a number of long cist sites. Two distinct grave orientations were noted in trench 1. While the full significance of this is not yet apparent, the possibility exists of two distinct phases of use within the cemetery. If the use of long cist cemeteries in northern Britain does represent a ‘pre-Northumbrian Church’ burial practice, the Bowl Hole’s proximity to Bamburgh Castle raises the possibility of pagan Anglian burials either within the cemetery, or nearby.
The small number of fragmentary human bone finds from the fill (202) of the potential paleo-channel 203 in trench 2 would appear to indicate the burial ground to the west was less stable in the past. This is further corroborated by the human bone recovered from the Bowl Hole itself during earlier archaeological inspections by the curatorial authority (see 3.2 above). The present condition of the turf which seals the cemetery, however, would appear to render the burial ground quite stable at the present time.
Alcock E. (1992) ‘Burials and Cemeteries in Scotland’. in Edwards N. and Lane A. (eds.) The Early Church in Wales and the West, Oxford.
Bailey R.N. (1995) ‘St. Oswald’s Heads’. in Stancliffe C. and Cambridge E. (eds.) Oswald. Northumbrian King to European Saint. Stamford.
Bateson E. (1893) A History of Northumberland Vol. 1. The Parish of Bamburgh. Newcastle Upon Tyne.
Cambridge E. (1995) ‘Archaeology and the Cult of St. Oswald in Pre-Conquest Northumbria’. in Stancliffe C. and Cambridge E. (eds.) Oswald. Northumbrian King to European Saint. Stamford.
Campbell J. (1979) ‘Bede’s Words for Places’. in Sawyer P.H. (ed.) Names, Words and Graves: Early Medieval Settlement. Leeds.
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Dolland M. (1992) ‘Long Cist Burials at Four Winds, Longniddry, East Lothian’. in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland vol. 122.
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Proudfoot E. (1996) ‘Excavations at the Long Cist Cemetery on the Hallow Hill, St. Andrews, Fife, 1975-7’. in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland vol. 126.
Roberts B. (1990) ‘Back Lanes and Tofts, Distribution Maps and Time, Medieval Nucleated Settlement in the North of England’. in Vyner B.E. (ed.) Medieval Rural Settlement in North East England. Durham.
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Acknowledgements
The project members are grateful to Northumberland County Council, particularly the Archaeology Team and Coast Management Service, for providing the grant which enabled the 1998 season to take place. We would particularly like to thank the Armstrong family for access to the castle and Bowl Hole, and for their encouragement throughout the project. The warm welcome and assistance of Mr. Bolam the estates Manager, Mr. Bewley the Castle Custodian and the staff of Bamburgh Castle was greatly appreciated. Thanks are also due to The Archaeological Practice of Newcastle University, Northern Archaeological Associates and to English Nature.
The excavation team comprised Matthew Claydon, Paul Gething, Dr. Ellen Hambleton, Dr. Joy Langston, Rosemary Whitbread, Philip Wood and Graeme Young.
APPENDIX: The Human Skeletal Material Excavated from Bamburgh, 1998, by Dr. J Langston.
Introduction:
During a short summer season in 1998 a quantity of human bone was excavated from a site at Bamburgh, Northumberland. The preservation was variable; some contexts showed excellent preservation with recovery of epiphyses and small bones of the hands and feet, whilst others contained only very small fragments which were impossible to accurately identify. Indeed, in some cases it was impossible to determine whether fragments were of animal or human bone. A number of contexts did contain animal material but in most cases it was possible to separate human and non-human bone.
A large degree of disturbance was indicated by the amount of fragmentation in the bones and the fact that none of the contexts appeared to contain in-situ material. In addition adjacent vertebral bones and long bone fragments were found in different contexts: Contexts 102 and 108 contained articulating vertebrae (T7-10) and left and right juvenile tarsal bones were noted in Contexts 109 and 20 1.
Method:
The bones were washed and examined context by context (see catalogue below). Comparisons were made between contexts where it seemed that bones from the same individual were represented. Estimation of age at death was made with reference to Ubelaker (1978) -juvenile dentition, Bass (1987) - juvenile bone length and epiphyseal fusion, Lovejoy et al. (1985) - auricular surface development.
Sexing was by examination of morphological features as indicated by Brothwell (1981).
Unfortunately no complete skeletons were available for examination and where sex of an individual is suggested this was by reference to separate bones within the contexts (which showed morphological features or were of notably large or small size).
Number of individuals:
This material represents the partial remains of at least two juveniles and two adults. More bones have been preserved from a proposed older child, whilst a younger individual is represented by fewer bones. The adult bones are generally in a worse state of preservation, being more fragmented and abraded, and no complete long bones remain. However, at least two individuals are represented by the two left occipital condyles in Contexts 108 and 108/35 (see catalogue).
Sex:
Sexing of juveniles is held to be impossible by many, although Schutkowski (1993) has suggested that the morphology of the ilium and mandible can indicate maleness or femaleness. Unfortunately neither of these bones were well enough preserved to use in this group and the sex of the two juveniles remains unknown.
In adults morphological development of the skull, mandible and pelvis can indicate sex of the individual (given reasonable preservation of the features). At least one adult male is indicated in the Bamburgh bones by skull and mandibular fragments in Context 108. In addition a large distal left humerus, right distal radius and ulna (all from Context 108) are almost certainly male, as is a femoral shaft fragment from Context 1 10. None of the adult bone fragments are small enough to indicate a definite/probable female, but a smaller left proximal radius in Context 108 indicates a second smaller adult (of unknown sex).
Age at death:
A number of complete long bones which are apparently from a single juvenile individual were reserved: by comparison to reference material of known age at death and bone length/development tables supplied by Bass (1987) an age at death of c.7-8 years is indicated. A maxillar fragment indicates a second child who died at c. 3-4 years; although no long bones from this individual are preserved a number of vertebral fragments showing lack of fusion between vertebral bodies and arches are further indication of death at this age.
Following skeletal maturity and fusion of all epiphyses age at death in adults is estimated by examination of dental attrition, pelvic features and fourth rib development. Unfortunately, no molar teeth or sternal rib ends were found, and only one pelvic fragment contained an incomplete auricular surface; although this has features suggesting an age of c. 30-40 years its partial nature means that the accuracy is uncertain. A clavicle showed complete fusion of the sternal end, thus indicating an age at death of post-30 years, whilst degenerative changes noted in vertebrae and femoral head are severe enough to suggest a probable older age at death (a number of vertebral facet joints have grooving and eburnation of the articular surfaces which shows advanced degenerative joint disease). It is thus impossible to indicate a close estimate of age at death for the adults: no bones fragments indicate death at less than 30 years, and whilst severe eburnation is noted particularly in older individuals there is a possibility of development at a younger age given predisposing factors. The only conclusion which can be made here is therefore that the two adults were at least 30 years old at the time of death, and possibly older.
Pathology.
a) An adult left clavicle (Context 108) shows a well healed midshaft fracture. although traumatic this is a common injury suffered through falling on an outstretched hand, and is not necessarily indicative of deliberate violence.
b) A juvenile left clavicle (Context 109) has a small rounded lesion at the eternal end (10mm x 8mm) which is almost certainly a bone cyst.
c) Evidence of advance degenerative joint disease is present in vertebrae (cervical and thoracic) from Contexts 102 and 108 which show ebumation, grooving of the articular surface and marginal ripping. A femoral head also shows degenerative changes in the articular surface, and nfinor marginal ripping was noted in a distal right radius and ulna, metacarpals and phalanges.
d) A fibular shaft has evidence of a minor periosteal reaction in the presence of small areas of new bone; this type of pathology is most commonly associated with repeated minor trauma, and when seen in the fibula is often linked to walking over rough ground for example.
e) Two upper medial incisors (Contexts 102 and 108) are both shovel shaped with severe enamel hypoplasia, and probably come from the same individual. Enamel hypoplasia is a condition causing irregularities in the surface of the enamel (pitting, ridging and striation). Although once thought to be due to malnutrition it is now indicated that the abnormality is related to high temperature fevers suffered in childhood affecting the developing tooth crown (Neiburger, 1990).
Conclusions:
The bones examined represent the very partial remains of at least four individuals., two juveniles aged c. 3-4 years and c.7-8 years, and two adults of at least thirty years. An older age range is suggested by the severity of degenerative changes noted in the vertebrae.
It was not possible to determine the sex of the juveniles-, at least one male adult is indicated by skull/mandible features and bones of large morphology. There were no indications of any female bones.
Trauma is indicated in a well healed clavicular fracture (adult). A juvenile clavicle has a lesion suggestive of a bone cyst. Changes associated with degenerative joint disease are noted in cervical/thoracic vertebrae, wrist, hands and hip joint (femoral head).
Two loose upper middle incisors (presumed to be from the same individual by their similar shape and distinctive shovelling) have severe enamel hypoplasia.
