More information : [SE 4370 8102] Pudding Pie Hill [T.I.] Tumulus [O.E.] (1)
In 1855 a tumulus, 18ft. high, S.E. of Sowerby wa opened by Lady
Russell. Three male skeletons and masses of calcinated bones were
found. There were three late Roman coins and Roman pottery while
near the skeletons were Saxon remains - a spear-head, iron dagger
and shield boss. Animal bones were found in different parts of the
tumulus. The remains were deposited in the Yorkshire Museum.
Wm. Proctor in a paper referred the tumulus to the 6th or 7th c. (2)
The published survey of this feature (25" 1912) has been left for
revision by the field surveyor. It consists of a large near circular
grass covered mound (approx. 6.3m high and 52m in diameter) which
may have been partly constructed from an existing natural mound.
This supposition is given credence by its situation at the foot of
natural rising ground to the S. and its separation from this ground
by a ditch on its S. side. The mound is in good condition apart from
a slight hollowing out of the base of its northern side. This
probably represents the 19th C. excavations, as elsewhere the
feature is undisturbed. There is no evidence that the finds made
at this excavation came from primary burials, and it is possible
therefore that the primary is yet unlocated. The mound is quite
rounded, and is probably a large isolated bowl barrow. It seems very
likely that the burials so far discovered have been secondaries,
and that the barrow has been used for successive interments from
a period prior to the 6th and 7th c.
The items held by the York Museum from this site have no accession
numbers and are stored in their reserve collection. They comprise a
large Umbo, a handle of an Anglian shield, and fragments of Roman
pottery. (3)
SE 4370 8102. Pudding Pie Hill: a bowl barrow 650m SE of St Oswald's
Church. Scheduled RSM No 20459. The barrow is 40m in diameter and the
summit is about 3m above the high ground to the E and rises to 6m
above the floodplain. It is surrounded by a ditch which cuts into the
hillside to the SE of the mound and is between 5m and 10m wide by up
to 1.5m deep, whilst on the NW side the ditch lies on the floodplain
and is now 0.5m deep, due to silting. The low-lying parts of the
ditch are partially waterlogged. There is a slight 1m wide outer bank
on the edge of the ditch on the floodplain, where both features have
been incorporated into later field boundaries. (4-5)
The accession number of the Roman pottery from 'A barrow in Sowerby' is YORYM : 1947.428. There are fragments of several coarse-ware vessels and a fragment of pig jaw, all contextualized to 'with skeleton no.3. (6)
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