Monument record MLI33501 - Barrow cemetery, Tallington

Summary

Barrow cemetery, Tallington

Type and Period (4)

Protected Status/Designation

  • None recorded

Full Description

PRN 33501 Now incorporating records 33504, 33508, 34189, 34190, 34192, 34193. About 550m north of the village of Tallington, air photography has revealed group of at least ten ring ditches which under favourable conditions show as cropmarks. They represent the remains of a barrow cemetery which was in use from the middle of the second millennium BC. The individual barrows, and the investigations carried out, are discussed below. {5}{6}{7}{8}{9}{10}{12} Two ring ditches visible as a cropmarks in St Joseph aerial photographs, and in Hayes aerial photographs of 1987, were excavated by Fennell in 1958-59 and a third was surveyed. The larger circle was regular in shape with an outside diameter of about 150 feet. The ditch appeared to be flat-bottomed with a width of about 10 feet at the top and a depth of 4 feet 6 inches to 5 feet below the present surface. A small central area was also excavated but did not locate any central burials. There were no datable finds. The smaller circle was somewhat irregular on the eastern half, with an outside diameter of about 120 feet. A contour survey showed that there was a slight raised mound corresponding approximately with the ring ditch but spread slightly to the west of it. The ditch appeared to be v-shaped with a width of about 10 feet at the top and a depth of 4 to 5 feet below the present surface. The few datable pottery finds seem to indicate a Bronze Age date for the ring ditch. The surveyed circle was a small penannular ring ditch with a possible entrance gap to the south. All three features were mapped by RCHM in 1960 in ‘A Matter of Time'. {5}{6}{7}{10}{11} A small early Bronze Age barrow surrounded by a ditch 65 feet in diameter was partly excavated in 1963. There was a large grave in the centre containing the skeletons of two adults and two or three children buried over a period of time. One had a flint knife, another had a small long-necked beaker and a pair of bronze basket-shaped ear rings. There was no evidence for a mound but it may have been completely removed by medieval and modern ploughing. The ear rings are in Birmingham Museum (Accession no.667.66-B). {12}{17} In 1965 a large barrow of early Bronze Age date was excavated. It lay adjacent to a small mound of similar date excavated in 1963 and was so close that their ditches overlapped. The overall diameter of the large barrow was 170 feet and there were three phases of construction. The first burial had been placed in a wooden coffin, probably made from hollowing out a tree trunk. Near the head was a complete food vessel. The grave was covered by a low mound and surrounded by a circular ditch about 40 feet in diameter. A second burial was later added and four circles of wooden stakes erected around the mound. The mound was later enlarged to a diameter of about 140 feet with earth scraped up from the surrounding area. A third burial was later added to the mound some 60 feet from the centre. The mound was enlarged again with earth from a surrounding circular ditch twenty-five feet wide and five feet deep. {12}{13}{14}

Sources/Archives (17)

  •  Index: SMR FILE. TALLINGTON. TF 00 NE:J; T.
  •  Index: OS CARD INDEX. TALLINGTON. TF 00 NE:10,1965, SEAMAN B H.
  •  Index: OS CARD INDEX. TALLINGTON. TF 00 NE:10.1964. DA.
  •  Index: Parish card index of the former South Lincolnshire Archaeology Unit. TALLINGTON. Slau Parish cards,1975.
  •  Aerial Photograph: J.K.S. St Joseph. 1945-79. Cambridge University Collection. JG 42-44,47-48,1952, .
  •  Aerial Photograph: J.K.S. St Joseph. 1945-79. Cambridge University Collection. HA 0067,0069-0071,1951.
  •  Aerial Photograph: HAYES, J.T.. 1953-87. RCHM. AP9, AP 13,1987.
  •  Aerial Photograph: PICKERING, J.. 1962-86. RCHME. SF994-2; B4779JP, 1975.
  •  Map: Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England. 1992-1996. National Mapping Programme. TF 00 NE LI.778.8.1 1995.
  •  Bibliographic Reference: Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England. 1960. A Matter of Time. pp17,19,36,52,58; fig 7 nos. 14-17 and 24-26; plate 7b.
  •  Article in Serial: FENNELL, K.R.. 1961. ‘Excavations At OS 38, Tallington’ in Lincolnshire Architectural and Archaeological Society Reports and Papers. Vol 9 Part 1 NS pp26-34.
  •  Article in Serial: SIMPSON, W.G.. 1976. PROCEEDINGS OF THE PREHISTORIC SOCIETY. VOL 42 pp215-239.
  •  Index: SIMPSON, W.G.. 1965. EAST MIDLANDS ARCHAEOLOGICAL BULLETIN. No.8 p12.
  •  Serial: W.G. Simpson. 1965. Welland Valley Research Committee Report 1964-65. Report No.3. pp.4-5.
  •  Bibliographic Reference: GIBSON, A.M.. 1982. BEAKER DOMESTIC POTTERY. BAR 10 (I) p250.
  •  Bibliographic Reference: MAY, J.. 1976. Prehistoric Lincolnshire. 1976, pp68-71,192,194.
  •  Article in Serial: P.J. Davey. 1973. 'Bronze Age Metalwork from Lincolnshire' in Archaeologia. vol.104, pp.98, 119, Fig.44.424, 425.

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Grid reference Centred TF 0978 0874 (404m by 360m)
Civil Parish TALLINGTON, SOUTH KESTEVEN, LINCOLNSHIRE

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Record last edited

Mar 21 2021 8:35PM

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