Monument record MLI20308 - Barrow Cemetery, Deeping St Nicholas

Summary

Barrow Cemetery, Little Duke Farm, Deeping St Nicholas.

Type and Period (12)

Protected Status/Designation

  • None recorded

Full Description

The area around Little Duke Farm is occupied by a group of at least 8 cropmark ring ditches and earthwork barrows, situated on a low gravel promontory. All of these monuments are situated on the extreme eastern edge of the gravels of the lower Welland valley where they interface with and dip into the fen basin to the east. During the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods, this promontory would have been the last area of at least seasonally dry land on the edge of the developing succession of marine and freshwater fen. Inland, and to the west of this small barrow, field surveys, assessments and excavations have demonstrated the presence of a well-developed and utilised landscape from Neolithic to Roman times, of which these monuments undoubtedly form an integral part. {1}{2} There is a small barrow located at TF 1747 1312, which was found during gravel extraction. The ring ditch has been partly destroyed by post medieval quarrying. The ring ditch, when complete, would have measured 9m in diameter. There is a possibility that the feature may have originally been hengiform in shape, and the entrance could have been destroyed by the post medieval quarrying. The ring ditch encircled a small concentration of cremated bone, which was situated slightly off centre, towards the southeast. The cremated remains did not appear to have been placed in any sort of container, and appeared to be in situ. A single sherd of pottery was recovered from the barrow. Significantly, there was no sign of the monument on the field surface during the initial visit, or on aerial photographs. Whether other similar burial monuments, which appear to be smaller and flatter, are unrecognised components of other barrow cemeteries on the Fen-edge, or if this is an isolated example, is unknown. {1} Another barrow is located at TF 1749 1304, near Oat Sheaf House. It was identified on aerial photographs as a prominent yellowish, gravelly mound encircled by a ring ditch. The site has the potential for waterlogged deposits. Augering was undertaken in the vicinity of the ring ditch on a north-south line at 0.5m intervals. This showed that a 1.5m deep, 34m in diameter ditch encircled the barrow mound. The levelled profile of the mound indicates that the mound material has been spread by recent land use, and this material overlays the ditch. A resistivity survey was also conducted. No central grave was identified, but a number of anomalies were visible within the mound, and the ditch was clearly defined.{1}{3}{5} Another possible barrow, located at TF 1782 1329, was identified as a prominent yellowish, gravelly mound in dark, peaty clay by the Fenland Project. {3}{7} One of the barrows is located at TF 1741 1315. It was identified in 1978 as a prominent mound in aerial photographs, which also show a possible second feature about 75m away, in the north corner of the same field. There is the potential for waterlogged features. {3} The barrow was excavated in 1991 by the Fenland Archaeological Trust on behalf of English Heritage. There is an interim report in Fenland Research 1992. {2} This barrow is part of the barrow group at Little Duke Farm which is part of a much larger north-south extended linear group stretching along the western fen edge from the Peterborough area to the start of the limestone upland north of Bourne. It was in the early Bronze Age that the first interment of a child took place (2030-1775BC). The child was buried with a plano-convex knife in an oak coffin encircled by a free-standing, circular stake-ring monument. The stake-ring monument would have presented a small but impressive grave marker made perhaps even more impressive by the presence of a central 'totem'-like post. The monument would appear to have remained as a structure with the stakes rotting in situ. Later, the first mound was erected over the whole complex with a surrounding ditch. Later a young adult female was buried in an oval pit cut into the south-eastern sector of the first mound and, at the same time, a straight-sided trench was cut around the perimeter of the eastern mound into which were inserted posts of a variety of shapes and sizes. The young woman was buried on a mat of organic material and wrapped in a 'shroud'. There was also a string of jet beads with the body. A short time later an adult male was buried in a sub-rectangular pit probably also wrapped in a shroud or placed on a mat. The sequence of burials and the spatial relationships point towards this being a family group. Perhaps the barrow was the family vault. Later, after the male interment, the monument was drastically remodelled. A ring ditch of greater diameter was dug beyond the outer ditch of the primary barrow and a second mound was constructed over the whole of the primary barrow. Two cists were inserted into this second mound accompanied with one and then a second bucket urn each containing a cremation. Subsequently a further six to ten secondary cremations were inserted around the south-western to south-eastern perimeter of the second mound. These are probably unrelated to all the other burials. During the later Bronze Age the fresh water peat fen began to encroach on this area and it became covered by peat and sealed from future destruction. Peat development continued throughout most of the first millennium BC at the very least. In the 17th century and 18th century drainage of the area began the process of the emergence of the barrow mound earlier this century. Unfortunately in terms of organic preservation the excavation occurred some years too late. {9} Aerial photographs taken in 2000 appear to show the barrow surviving as an earthwork. {7} Calibrated radiocarbon dates for the later female and male inhumations are 1910 BC to 1675 BC for the female and 1855 BC to 1525 BC for the male. A radiocarbon date from one of the bucket urn cremations was calibrated to 1740 BC to 1510 BC. {10} Another probable barrow is located near Oatsheaf House, at TF 1748 1297. During a watching brief in 1998, the western edge of a possible Bronze Age barrow mound was recorded. A struck flint recovered from material beneath the mound indicates that the mound is no earlier than later Prehistoric in date. The mound appears to be ditchless, consistent with some of the other barrows in the area.{11}{12}

Sources/Archives (12)

  •  Bibliographic Reference: FRENCH, C.A.I.. 1994. Excavation of the Deeping St Nicholas Barrow Complex, South Lincolnshire. No. 1, pp. 11-13.
  •  Article in Serial: FRENCH, C.A.I. AND BEGGS, C.. 1992. FENLAND RESEARCH. No. 7, pp. 40-42.
  •  Bibliographic Reference: Hayes, P. P. and Lane, T. W.. 1992. The Fenland Project No.5: Lincolnshire Survey, the South-West Fens. No. 55, pp.107-111, 171, 173, 256, FIG 100, DEN 26-28.
  •  Aerial Photograph: PICKERING, J.. 1962-86. RCHME. TF 1901/21-23, 1978.
  •  Article in Serial: Dymond, M. and Trimble, D.. 1991. Heritage Lincolnshire First Annual Report. pp. 24-25.
  •  Article in Serial: Unsworth, S.. 1991. Heritage Lincolnshire First Annual Report. pp25-27.
  •  Aerial Photograph: Get Mapping. 2000. Digital National Imaging for Lincolnshire vertical aerial photographs. -.
  •  Aerial Photograph: Aerial Photograph. TF1713/6.
  •  Bibliographic Reference: FRENCH, C.A.I.. 1994. Excavation of the Deeping St Nicholas Barrow Complex, South Lincolnshire. No. 1.
  •  Bibliographic Reference: Crowson, A.; Lane, T. and Reeve. J. (eds). 2000. Fenland Management Project Excavations 1991-1995. DEN 28/91, pp.84-90.
  •  Report: Archaeological Project Services. June 1998. Oatsheaf House, Deeping St Nicholas. APS site code: DOS98.
  •  Archive: Archaeological Project Services. June 1998. Oatsheaf House, Deeping St Nicholas. LCNCC 139.98.

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Location

Grid reference Centred TF 1767 1317 (749m by 568m)
Civil Parish DEEPING ST NICHOLAS, SOUTH HOLLAND, LINCOLNSHIRE

Related Monuments/Buildings (1)

Related Events/Activities (14)

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Record last edited

Mar 21 2021 8:35PM

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