Excavations at the early medieval cemetery in Bamburgh. Photo Northumberland County Council.

(NU 1869 3484) Bowl Hole. Old Danish Burying Ground. (1)

An open space known as 'Bowl Hole', which tradition has called a Danish cemetery. Blowing away of the sand has revealed a series of possibly medieval interments disposed at length in rough cists at a shallow depth, and two crouched burials, without grave-goods, and the remains of an infant, lying in a circle of boulders at a greater depth. (2)

A collection of bones from a contracted burial, a fragment of iron, and scraps of pottery from the Dane's Burial Ground, were donated to Society of Antiquaries Museum in 1935. (3)

NU 1869 3490. The 'Bowl Hole' is a large, natural depression in the sand dunes. It has a heavy surface scatter of fragmentary bone, but no other evidence of antiquity is visible. (4)

Excavation took place at Bowl Hole (NU 1869 3484) in August 1998, the work was carried out by The Bamburgh Castle Research Group on behalf of Northumberland County Council. The site is known to have been the subject of periodic erosion during the present century and therefore a grant was made available for a limited excavation in order to assess the nature of the site and the state of preservation of the remains.
A total of seven grave cuts were identified within a 5m square trench, a mixture of stone-lined burials and simple dug graves. Such a mix is known at a number of long cist burial sites. Distinct groups and concentrations of disarticulated human bone were found on the surface and within the excavated graves. Possibly due to reuse of the graves for additional burials. Due to the apparent complexity of the graves none could be excavated to their full depth. In most cases the graves did not indicate modern disturbance.
A second trench dug to the east contained no burial cuts. This may imply a formal cemetery boundary exists somewhere between the two trenches. Overall the site was found to be in reasonable state of preservation. The turf which presently seals the cemetery would appear to render the burial ground stable. Further excavation is planned for summer 1999 when it is hoped to establish an extent and chronology of the site. (5)

Geophysical survey, comprising geomagnetic and electrical resistance surveying, was carried out in 2006. Areas of archaeological interest were identified including a cluster of low resistance anomalies that may represent graves and may indicate either that the cemetery was concentrated towards the top of the slope or that burials further down have been eroded. The Bamburgh Research Project have been excavating the site since 1997 and have excavated about 100 individuals as well as identifying about another 30 grave cuts. (6)

The Bowl Hole cemetery was initially discovered in 1817 after a great storm scoured some of the dunes away. The first recorded excavation seems to have taken place in 1894, after further storms, revealed rough cists (see authority 2 above). In the 1960s, Brian Hope-Taylor excavated a number of trenches but failed to relocate the cemetery. Bamburgh Research Project relocated the site in 1997 through geophysical survey and trial trenching. In August 1998 and 1999 evaluation trenches were dug.
Results of this work indicates that the cemetery belongs to the Anglo-Saxon 'Final Phase' classification, covering what is thought to be the generations around and after the introduction of Chistianity. Bamburgh is the most northerly Anglo-Saxon cemetery of this date so far recognised. (7)

The Bowl Hole burial ground was investigated by the Bamburgh Research Project between 1998 and 2007. It has been dated to the seventh to eighth century AD based on artefacts and radiocarbon dating. The absence of sixth century burials has led to the suggestion that an earlier cemetery may exist elsewhere in the area. (8)

Survey in 2010 recorded several low mounds which, although made up of windblown sand, do not fit the rest of the pattern of dune build up surrounding them. It is thought possible that these low mounds are dunes 'artificially' created by windblown sand collecting around and overlying pre-existing mounds. They could therefore represent burial mounds relating to the early medieval cemetery. (9)

Additional Reference (10)