More information : [SE 4271 6327] Duel Cross Hill [T.I.]
Roman Milestone [G.S.]
Urns & Human Bones found here [T.I.]
Roman Milestone [G.S.] (Site of) (1-2)
A Roman milestone of Decius [Trajan Decius, 249-51] was found at
Duel Cross in 1778. About 200 yards from the find-spot and beside
the York road was a tumulus (described as a morainic mound by
Wood (5)), known as Devil or Duel Cross, and 18 feet high and 370
feet in circumference. It was opened c. 1785 to provide road metal
and finds included cinerary urns, one at least probably Anglian
(5), inhumation burials and many Roman coins including coins of
Vespasian, Domitian and Trajan. (3-5)
The milestone is now in Aldborough Manor museum and is a near
cylindrical, inscribed, sandstone pillar, 11" in diameter and 4'11"
high. See AO/63/109/7. The site of the mound was probably at SE
4285 6335 which is the highest point of the hill but no evidence of
a mound remains. (6)
The fact that the mound was used for road repairs does indicate a glacial origin; though this does not preclude its use a burial mound in the Roman or Anglo-Saxon periods. (7)
Air photographs of this area were carefully examined for the Yorkshire Henges and their Environs Air Photo mapping project but no evidence of the disturbed mound was observed. (9) |