PARISH OF OVINGHAM. 42? 



rather irregularly shaped, and made with seven flag-stones set on 

 edge, with two cover-stones, the one overlying the other ; the upper 

 one being 3 ft. 5 in. long and 2 ft. 2 in. wide, the under one 3 ft. 

 5 in. long and 2 ft. wide. In the cist there was nothing left of 

 the unburnt body which had originally been deposited in it, except 

 a few pieces of the larger and more solid bones of the arms and 

 legs of apparently a full-grown person. The head appeared to 

 have been laid at the north-west end of the cist. In this instance, 

 as in many others, we have the occurrence of both burnt and 

 unburnt bodies in the same grave-mound, and probably quite 

 contemporaneous. A flint flake showing signs of use was met with 

 near to, but not inside, the cist. 



PARISH OF OVINGHAM. Ord. Map. cv. s.w. 



CCXIV. At Broomhouses in the parish of Ovingham, and 

 close to the grand mediaeval castle of Prudhoe, the * caput baroniss ' 

 of the great house of Umfraville, upon a knoll which there over- 

 hangs the river Tyne, a very prolific place of sepulture was 

 accidentally discovered. The farmer fortunately, on meeting with 

 the first interment, stopped the operations he was proceeding with, 

 and I was consequently enabled to make a careful examination of 

 the place of burial.' Though there was not any appearance of a 

 barrow, I think it probable that one had formerly existed on the 

 site, and that during a long course of cultivation the artificial part 

 of the mound had become levelled ; indeed, as I ascertained, a few 

 stones had, until quite recently, still remained lying on the surface 

 of the ground above the cists, showing that the grave-hill had been 

 to some extent formed of stones. 



The first interment I met with was in a cist, lying east-north- 

 east and west-south-west, 3J ft. long, 2 ft. 4 in. wide, and 1 ft. 9 in. 

 deep. It was constructed of four large slabs of sandstone and two 

 smaller ones, with three cover-stones, a larger one overlying the 

 other two ; this was 4 ft. long and 2 ft. 10 in. wide, the smaller 

 ones measuring respectively 2ft. 7 in. by 2ft. 6 in. and 2ft. 4 in. 

 by 2 ft. 2 in. ; the cover-stones in this, as also in the other cists, were 

 placed beneath the level of the natural surface. There was no 

 trace of the body left in the cist, which contained nothing beyond 

 some pieces of charcoal. Nine feet west of the cist (the measure- 

 ments being all taken from the centre of one cist or urn to the 

 centre of another) was a cinerary urn reversed, and filled with burnt 



