392 E-ev. W. Greenwell on Barrows at Ford. 



Northumberland in British days. Here however we have a 

 barrow covering an infant's grave, and, without wandering 

 into the reahns of fancy, we may, I think, safely predicate of 

 this memorial, that it marks the spot where the much loved 

 and early lost child of some honoured chief and warrior was 

 interred.* 



The covering stone of the cist bore on its upper surface the 

 marks of fire, the indications of cremation contemporary with 

 the central interment. Outside the cist were the remains of 

 six or seven bodies, all burnt and enclosed in urns, but the 

 whole, with one exception, so much decayed, that only very 

 slight indications of bones or urns were apparent; three of the 

 urns were covered, each with a small flat stone. One urn — 

 Plate XII., fig. 2 — was removed in a perfect state ; it is rudely 

 hand-formed,t with a few irregular and ill-arranged lines, of 

 the usual character, on the upper part ; it measures ten and 

 a half inches in height, by nine inches in width at the mouth. 

 It was inverted, and filled with the imperfectly burnt bones of 

 a young person of 16 or 18 years of age ; among the bones 

 were some pieces of burnt wood, together with a rude flint 

 arrowhead — Plate'Kll.,fg. S — and a bone pin, which had both 

 been burnt with the body. The mouth of the urn was filled 

 with clay to preserve the bones from falling out. A single 

 piece of calcined flint was found among the decayed urns and 

 bones, and there was no indication of metal throughout the 

 barrow. Outside the enclosing circle of stones was a single 

 interment, a small urn filled with burnt bones, but equally 

 decayed with those within the circle. 



It was evident, from the burnt appearance of the earth, 

 and covering stone, and from small fragments of burnt wood 

 occurring here and there, that some, if not all, of the bodies 

 had been consumed on the site of the barrow, and at a sub- 

 sequent period, though one perhaps only of hours, to the 

 formation of the cist. 



The second barrow, almost identical in shape and size with 

 the first one, was situated about one hundred yards north of 

 it, and was formed of similar materials and in a similar man- 

 ner, with the exception that there was no enclosing circle of 



* During the course of this year (1862) a cist was discovered at North Sun- 

 derland, which contained, besides three elaborately ornamented urns, the skele- 

 ton of a female of about twelve years of age. 



t These sepulchral urns appear, in many cases, to have been made for the 

 occasion, and the hot ashes seem to have been placed in them whilst they were 

 still pliant and soft ; in fact the only baking they got was probably due to the 

 heat generated by the calcined bones which they contained. 



