president's address. 



recently communicated to the Society of Antiquaries, by T. "W. 

 Snagge, Esq., M.A.,* on a subject of so much local interest. 



In the year 1825 some labourers who were employed in drain- 

 ing the field, which is still somewhat swampy, came upon what 

 seemed to be part of the trunk of an oak tree. Finding that it 

 impeded the progress of their work they endeavoured to cut it 

 out with an axe, when to their surprise they found that the 

 trunk was hollow and contained human bones. Subsequently 

 they found the remains of four similar wooden shells and reported 

 that there were several others all lying north and south, and 

 about five feet below the surface of the ground. Beyond the 

 account contained in letters from Mr. Hutton and Colonel Coulson 

 to the Antiquarian Society of Newcastle, no notice appears to 

 have been taken of the discovery, and the matter was almost for- 

 gotten when, in 1859, another oaken shell, like the former ones, 

 was found by Mr. Clark in the same field. In 1863, at the in- 

 stance of one of our late Presidents, the Rev. Canon Greenwell, 

 another search was made, and again a coffin was found, this 

 time containing a skull in fair preservation, and in 1869, at the 

 request of Mr. Snagge, from whose paper I quote, a careful 

 exploration of the whole field was made. It was ascertained, 

 chiefly by means of a boring rod, that a large number of the 

 coffins existed, and one in perfect condition was exhumed, — that 

 which we saw. Like those found in 1825 it consisted of the trunk 

 of an oak tree, rudely split from end to end — the ends rounded 

 somewhat, probably in the process of severing the log, rather than 

 with any intention of reducing it to shapeliness. The two halves, 

 which of course fitted accurately, had been fastened together by 

 means of two oaken pegs driven into holes at each end. The 

 interior presented a cavity of about five feet eleven inches, by 

 nineteen inches, rudely shaped. The tool marks all appeared 

 to be produced by striking instruments; some apparently were 

 those of a flat-edged but very rude tool about four inches broad, 

 but the great number seemed referrible to instruments of the 



* From the "Archasologia," Vol. XLIV. It seems a pity that this paper should not 

 have been reprinted in our Transactions— these paragraphs form a very imperfect ab- 

 stract of it. 



