On the opening and examination of a barrow of the British period at Warkshaugh, North Tyneside / by Geo. Rome Hall.

  • Hall, George Rome.
Date:
[1865?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the opening and examination of a barrow of the British period at Warkshaugh, North Tyneside / by Geo. Rome Hall. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    stand on sites considerably elevated. Some occupy positions, as Dan’s Cairn, which overlook the whole upper reach of the North Tyne, and could be seen from the Scottish hills, in accordance with the usual desire of a Pagan chief to have his name and fame held in remembrance after his death. Of these the words of the bard are descriptive, when he says of his buried forefathers, “Yngamcdd Mewn gwcrni mae ’n gorwedd “The}' arc lying in the barrow on the moor. But respecting this tumulus, the site of which within memory almost has been overgrown, like the rest of the valley-slope from the river to the Watling Street, with underwood and natural oak, the answering description would be couched in another line— “Eu beddau a’u cudd gwyddwal “ Their graves are hidden by the thicket.” The outline of the barrow has long been rendered indistinct by yearly tillage; but it can be remembered since it stood at least two feet higher than it does now- The ring of larger stones which usually encircles the base of such tumuli could be easily seen at the east and north, Avithin which the level surface appears to have had a rough kind of pavement. Here, where many of the stones were reddened throughout by fire, the funeral feast may possibly have been held, as a kind of sacrifice to the manes of the departed, according to the prevailing custom of ancient mourners, civilised or barbarian—one, too, which has lingered in this A^alley through both Pagan and Christian times to this day.* The funeral pyi’e Avas also probably erected in this open space for the burning of the body, whose calcined bones were enclosed in the urn which was first discovered. The Avhole barrow must * In Bmml’s “ Popular Aiitiquitic.!,” Vol. II, p. 237, (Holm's Edition,) there is a full description of tlicsc “ Funeral Entertainments,” whicli arc traced down from very early times. Ilutcldnson, in his ‘‘History of Northumberland,” Vol. II, ad. fin., p. 20, assigns the origin of the ylnreZ-dinner to the British period; the word, still not imcommon in the North of England, namely, Arthel or Arvel, being “frequently more correctly written arddehc. Tlie .similar funereal banquet among the Greeks and Homans is well known- See, especially, Juvenal. Satire A’, 1. 85. An allusion to the same custom occurs in Hamlet, Act I, .sc. 2. who, s])caking of his mother's mairiage, says— The funeral bak'd ineats Did coldly fnniish fortli the marriage-tables '