Hetton-le-Hole, Fairies Cradle or Castle cairn

HER Number:
249

District:
Sunderland

Site Name:
Hetton-le-Hole, Fairies Cradle or Castle cairn

Place:
Hetton-le-Hole

Map Sheet:
NZ34NE

Class:
Religious Ritual and Funerary

Site Type: Broad:
Burial

Site Type: Specific:
Burial cairn

General Period:
Prehistoric

Specific Period:
Bronze Age

Form of Evidence:
Documentary Evidence

Description:
In 1816 the antiquarian Surtees recorded "a remarkable tumulus, consisting entirely of field-stones gathered together", situated in a field "on the right-hand side of the road from Eppleton to Hetton and only one field from Houghton-Lane". In the top of the cairn was a small oblong hollow known as the Fairies Cradle. Later authorities call this monument a 'barrow' and agree that it contained one or more pottery vessels

Easting:
3537

Northing:
4771

Grid Reference:
NZ35374771

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
<< HER 249 >> R. Surtees, 1816, History of...Durham, Vol. I, pt. 2, p. 214 E. Mackenzie & M. Ross, 1834, History of...Durham, Vol. I, p. 369 Newcastle W.H.D. Longstaffe, 1852, Durham before the Conquest, Proceedings of the Archaeological Institute, Vol. I, p. 75, n. 6 W. Fordyce, 1857, History of...Durham, Vol. II, p. 580 W. Greenwell, 1877, British Barrows pp. 441-2 Transactions Architectural & Archaeological Society of Durham and Northumberland, 1884, A Prae-Historic cist burial at Sacriston, Vol. 3 (for 1880-1884), pp. 183-4 R. Young, 1980, An Inventory of Barrows in Co. Durham, Transactions Architectural & Archaeological Society of Durham and Northumberland, New series, Vol. 5, p. 8 no. 33 R. Miket, 1984, The Prehistory of Tyne and Wear, p. 54, no. 2 Dept. Pal. & Dip. Durham, Ordnance Survey maps, 1st ed. 1:2500 Durham XX.8