On the morning of Friday 28th January 1876 Patrick Foley, a labourer working for a local building contractor by the name of Mr Haxby Dougill, was digging a sewer in a field next to Four Riggs Lane to the north of in Darlington, where houses were being built for the new Greenbank estate. Near the top of the small hill overlooking the lane he discovered the bones of three skeletons.
The Northern Echo reported the find the following day:
SINGULAR DISCOVERY OF ANCIENT HUMAN REMAINS AT DARLINGTON
Yesterday morning, while Mr Prior’s labourers were making a drain in a grass field on the Greenbank estate, a man named Patrick Foley discovered a quantity of human bones. They were embedded in the sand about two and a half feet from the surface, and to the simple-minded finder suggested a Whitechapel tragedy on the spot. No time was lost, but information was conveyed to the police, and Supt. Rogers, accompanied by Dr. Easby, at once went to the spot. After carefully removing the soil, a large quantity of bones were found, including two human skulls, thighs, arms and smaller bones. In addition to these were found a bronze spear head, some bronze rings and the metallic lid of some vessel. The spear head and rings were evidently of great age, but the lid was, though much corroded, apparently of a later date. The bones were very much decayed, being quite “honey-combed” and easily crumbled away. The teeth, however, were in a wonderful state of preservation, one jaw of beautifully pearly teeth being quite complete, and others, though loosened from the jaws, were in excellent order, a fact which must be interesting to those who study the causes of the widespread decay of teeth in the present day. Dr. Easby made a close examination of the remains, and came to the conclusion that they were those of three bodies, a man, a woman, and a young person, and had been embedded for a long period. The spear head, rings, and vessel, were taken to Mr J. T. Abbott, who examined them, and compared them with some ancient specimens in his own possession, and stated his belief that the spear head and rings were at least 2,000 years old, and very probably of a date anterior to the visit of Julius Caesar, which, of course, took place in B.C. 55. The other article, however, he did not think had any connection with the weapon or the remains, and had got into the earth at a very much later date.
The police were called but it quickly became apparent from the artefacts that the bodies had been interred with that these were in fact ancient burials and not the result of a serial killer stalking the streets of Darlington. A Mr. J. T. Abbott, a Darlington chemist and well-known antiquarian, was called upon to identify the artefacts and the eminent archaeologist Canon Greenwell arrived shortly after from Durham. The discovery, it turned out, was at the time the richest pagan Anglo Saxon cemetery found north of the River Tees.
The following Thursday, February 3rd 1876, Canon Greenwell wrote to the Editor of the Northern Echo, William Stead, to correct some errors in their previous report:
CANON GREENWELL ON THE GREENBANK SKELETONS, &c
The rev. Canon Greenwell of Durham, one of the first living authorities concerning the remains which are from time to time unearthed from the burying places of the ancient inhabitants of Great Britain writes to us as follows concerning the skeletons lately discovered on the Greenbank estate:-
Durham, February 3, 1876
“DEAR SIR, – The discovery of skeletons at Greenbank seems to require a fuller notice than has already been given of it, and therefore the more occasion for this on account of some errors which occur in the only paragraph I have read in which the discovery is mentioned.
Three bodies appear to have been buried at this spot, those of a man, a woman and a child. There can be no difficulty in attributing them to one of the principal stocks which have occupied Great Britain.
Three years later Abbott gave a semi-anonymous account of the discovery under the moniker of “J.T.A” to The North Eastern Independent newspaper, which was published on Saturday 1st February 1879. In it he listed the finds:
(I) Six male and female and child’s skeletons buried with the feet to the east, at the head of each a small urn or vase of native burnt clay, evidently a rude copy of the classical Greek vase; both were preserved and another destroyed. The skeletons were left in the ground except the skulls.
Quoted in Miket, R., Pocock, M., Myres, J. N. L., & Swanton, M. J. (1976) An Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Greenbank, Darlington. Medieval Archaeology, Volume 20, Number 1, pages 62–74, page 63
(2) Several beautiful bronze fibulae, large and small, the larger ones evidently intended for the soldier’s belts; they have been gilt.
(3) Two circular brooches either for a man or woman, a pair of bronze tweezers for the ladies to pull away superfluous hair out of their faces or noses.
(4) Broken brooches and bodkins, all bronze, two crucial (sic) brooches.
(5) A large necklace, composed of amber, glass and stone beads and a chalk talisman or charm which may have been round the neck of one of the skeletons.
(6) Two swords, one very perfect and several spearheads.
(7) Two iron bosses from ancient shields and an iron key.
Audrey Meaney in her book A Gazetteer of Early Anglo-Saxon Burial Sites noted that “J. T. Abbott kept watch on the site”:
1876 During excavations for a sewer between Dodd [sic] Street and Selbourne Terrace on the Greenbank Estate to the N of the Parish Church, some AS burials were found. J. T. Abbott kept watch on the site. About a dozen skeletons were found, of men, women and children, heads to the W, and at the head of each was a small urn of burnt clay. With them were also a number of bronze brooches of various sizes, some showing traces of gilding, including 2 circular brooches, 2 large cruciform brooches, one of which is dated by Brown to about 550 and some broken brooches and pins. There were also a pair of bronze tweezers, a necklace of amber, glass and stone beads, a chalk object, perhaps a spindlewhorl, which may have been hung around the neck of one of the bodies, and some weapons – swords, at least 3 spearheads with split sockets, and 2 or more shield bosses.
It is no surprise then to discover that most of the artefacts ended up in Abbott’s personal collection of antiquities, although Charles C. Hodges, who wrote about the finds for the 1905 publication of The Victoria History of the County of Durham Volume 1, page 211, noted that Canon Greenwell managed to obtain the two shield bosses for his collection:
The discovery at Darlington, perhaps the most important, was made in 1876, by Mr. Haxby Dougill, a builder of that town, when making excavations for a sewer, to be laid between Dodd [sic] Street and Selbourne Terrace on the Greenbank estate, which lies to the north of the parish church. The importance of the find was fortunately realized by a local antiquary, Mr. J. T. Abbott, who made observations on the site, and collected a number of objects found associated with the burials. About a dozen skeletons of males, females and children were found, and, at the head of each, was a small urn, of burnt clay. The bodies had been laid with the feet to the east. Among the articles accompanying them were a number of brooches, of various sizes, some of which showed traces of gilding; two circular booches; a pair of tweezers; a number of broken brooches and pins; and two large cruciform brooches, all of bronze; also a necklace composed of amber, glass, and stone beads, and a chalk object, no doubt a spindle whorl, which may have been round the neck of one of the persons interred. The weapons found were iron swords and spear-heads, and two or more iron bosses of shields. The period to which these articles point is that of the very early Anglian occupation, possibly before the introduction of Christianity in Northumbria. Three spear-heads preserved measure respectively 10½ inches, 12½ inches, and 16 inches in length. They are of the early Anglo-Saxon form, the sockets being split up to show part of the shaft. The three spear-heads and a fibula are in the possession of Mr. Edward Wooler of Darlington, the shield bosses are in that of Canon Greenwell of Durham, and some other objects are in the collection of Sir John Evans.
The Victoria History also included images of the three spear-heads and the fibula which were “in the possession of Mr. Edward Wooler of Darlington.”
On 21st March 1905 The Northern Echo published an article [below] which appears to be written – or at least very heavily influenced – by Edward Wooler, a very wealthy local town councillor and noted solicitor in Darlington (whose office in Priestgate was just a few doors down from The Northern Echo‘s building) and who was also a keen antiquary. The article identified a Mr George Hastwell as owning the three spear heads, one of the cruciform fibulae brooches and the iron key. Later on in 1905, when The Victoria History of Durham was published, these artifacts were apparently in the possession of Wooler; presumably he had presented Hastwell with a financial offer he couldn’t refuse.
Wooler enthusiastically set about publicising these artifacts from the largely forgotten discovery in Darlington almost 30 years previously, exhibiting them at the March 21st 1905 meeting of The Darlington Naturalists’ Field Club, of which he was president at the time:
At a meeting of the Darlington Naturalists’ Field Club, held last night, Mr Edward Wooler, the president, exhibited three iron Saxon spear heads, a very fine bronze fibula, and an iron key found on Greenbank some years ago by Mr Haxby Dougill, and now in the possession of Mr George Hastwell. It was stated there had no doubt been a Saxon burial ground on Greenbank, as some of the former generation would remember a find made there in 1876, which went into the possession of the late Mr J. T. Abbot [sic]. There were then found beautiful bronze fibulae, large and small – the larger one evidently intended for soldiers’ belts – two circular brooches, a pair of bronze tweezers, broken brooches, bodkins – all of bronze – a necklace composed of amber, glass and stone beads, two swords, and several spear heads, two iron bosses from ancient shields, and an iron key. It is supposed that there was an early Saxon church at Greenbank, although there has undoubtedly been a Saxon church on the site of the present St Cuthbert’s church. That is confirmed by Saxon remains that have been found there and now exist in the church … It is interesting to note, in connection with the Greenbank find, that a number of skeletons were found during the digging of a sewer there, and at the head of each was a small urn or vase. Many supposed that food was placed in these urns, and the key, spears, etc, so as to provide for the “resurrection day”.
The article does make it sound as if the cruciform fibulae brooch, the iron key and three spear heads were a separate and new find from the Greenbank estate, but as J. T. Abbott’s 1879 account of the discovery shows, these were in fact part of the original 1876 find.
The week after the Darlington Field Club meeting, on 29th March 1905, Wooler travelled up to the grand surroundings of the library at Newcastle castle to exhibit the artefacts at the monthly meeting of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle Upon Tyne:
By Mr. Edward Wooler of Darlington: – Three iron spearheads, (i) 15½in. long (with socket 4in. long) and 1in. wide at widest part, (ii) 12in. long (remains of socket 4in.) and 1in. wide, and (iii) 10½in. long (remains of socket 4in. long) and 1⅛in. wide; a bronze brooch of pre-conquest date; and and iron key. All are part of a find made at Greenbank, Darlington, in 1876, by Mr. Haxby Dougill, contractor, Darlington, in laying a sewer between Dodds Street and Selbourne Terrace. Other objects discovered consisted of skeletons, male and female, with feet to the east, at the head of each a small empty urn of native burnt clay; bronze brooches, large and small, two of them circular, a pair of bronze tweezers, broken brooches and bodkins, all of bronze; a large necklace composed of amber, glass and stone beads and a chalk charm; two swords, very perfect; two iron bosses from ancient shields, &c. No account has previously been published of this ‘find’ so far as I know. The other portion of the find went into hte possession of the late Mr. J. T. Abbott of Darlington, and was sold at Christie’s on his death. There was, no doubt, an extensive cemetery on Greenbank, as other human remains were found there a short time ago.
The confusion over the number of skeletons discovered – either “Six male and female and child’s skeletons” or “About a dozen skeletons of males, females and children” – can be traced back to Edward Wooler being either deliberately vague about the number of bodies or actually stating there were around a dozen, as he did in the children’s history textbook Historic Darlington, which he co-wrote and was published in 1913:
The Story of Darlington Chapter VI – The Foundation of Darlington
What led to the foundation of Darlington, and how did it get its name? That Darlington existed in very early Saxon times there is no doubt, for in 1876 a pagan Saxon burial ground was discovered on the Greenbank estate. From this about a dozen skeletons were unearthed; at the head of each was a small urn of clay, such as it was the custom to place in graves in those early times. There were also found iron swords and spear-heads, and iron bosses for centres of shields – the weapons of the dead warriors. The spear-heads were from 10½ to 16 inches in length.
This was despite Wooler being fully aware that there were only six skeletons as he clearly had a copy of J. T. Abbott’s account from The North Eastern Independent newspaper from 1879 because he plagiarized it almost word for word in the April 1905 Yorkshire Gazette‘s lengthy illustrated article, which was almost entirely written by him.
Saxon1Interesting Exhibition of Saxon Antiquities
Remains 1,500 years old which throw considerable light upon the habits of the people in the Saxon period.
The exhibition of a number of Saxon antiquities to the members of the Darlington Naturalists’ Field Club has created so much general interest that we give here-with representations of the articles shown, accompanied by a more copious description than has yet been made public.
The exhibits (says Mr. Edward Wooler, who has written this description) included three iron spear-heads, an exceptionally well preserved bronze fibulae (or clasp), and a large iron key, all of which for some years have been in the possession of Mr. George Hastwell, of Darlington, and originally formed part of a very extensive find on the Greenbank Estate in 1876. At that time whilst Mr. Haxby Dougill, a well-known Darlington contractor, was excavating for a sewer between Dodds Street and Selbourne Terrace, he discovered a large quantity of remains of great antiquity – probably nearly 1,500 years old.
The find included:-
(1.) Six male and female and child’s skeletons, buried with the feet to the east, and at the head of each a small urn of native burnt clay, a rude copy of the Greek vase. The skeletons, except the skulls, were left in the ground.
(2.) Several beautiful bronze fibulae, large and small, the larger apparently intended for warriors’ belts. They had been gilded.
(3.) Two circular brooches; a pair of bronze tweezers for removing superfluous hairs.
(4.) Broken brooches and bodkins, all bronze – two of them crucial brooches.
(5.) A large necklace composed of amber, glass and stone beads, and a chalk talisman or charm, which may have been round the neck of one of the skeletons.
(6.) Two swords (very perfect) and several spear heads.
(7.) Two iron bosses from ancient shields and two iron keys.
Eminent antiquaries who examined the various articles came to the conclusion that the place where the discovery was made was an ancient Anglo-Saxon burial ground in use prior to the building of the Saxon Church which is known to have preceded the present Church of St. Cuthbert on the east side of Darlington Market-place.
What is known of the antiquities of the Anglo-Saxon period is derived almost entirely from the one source – the graves – but fortunately for the study of this period it happens that the contents of the graves are particularly rich, varied, and interesting, and enables a tolerably accurate estimate to be formed of the civilisation of our Anglo-Saxon progenitors.
In general the Saxon graves have a character very distinct from those of the Britons or Romans – they are, indeed, the prototypes of our modern graves. A rectangular cist or pit was cut in the ground, varying in depth from three or four feet to seven or eight, on the floor of which the body was laid on its back, in full dress, surrounded with a variety of articles, which no doubt the deceased had valued when alive. The grave was then filled up and a mound of earth raised above. This mound was termed “hloew,” a hillock, the modern word “low,” which is still used in Derbyshire, and “beorh,” “beorg” or “bearw,” a word having the same signification, from which is derived our modern name of “barrow.” In Sussex they are still called “burghs.”
In the graves of the Saxon period, as in those of the Romans, there are found two modes of interment – cremation and the burial of the body entire. The custom appears to have varied with the different tribes who came into England. In the Anglo-Saxon cemeteries in Kent, cremation was the rare exception to the general rule, while it seems to have been the predominating practice among the Angles from Norfolk into the centre of Mercia.
(The exact date in April written on the press cutting in Edward Wooler’s Cutting Book 3 held at the Centre for Local Studies at Crown Street Library in Darlington is indecipherable but, based on the chronology of the other cuttings before and after, it appears to be 1st April 1905 and no later than 5th April 1905).
At best, Wooler’s suggestion of around 12 skeletons could be seen as a deliberate mis-reading of Abbott’s original account of “Six male and female and child’s skeletons” as being six male and six female (plus one child’s) skeletons, instead of Abbott’s intended and the now accepted meaning of six skeletons in total. It’s also interesting to note that in Wooler’s version of J. T. Abbott’s original account the one “very perfect” sword out of the two found now becomes both swords, and the singular iron key now becomes two iron keys. A highly experienced solicitor, Wooler was used to presenting the evidence in the best light to argue a case. In his defence, I believe that Wooler wanted to ensure that this significant archaeological discovery in Darlington appeared as important as possible so as to increase Darlington’s prominence on the national stage, and a little laissez faire attitude to the truth helped this along.
Later in 1905, when Charles C. Hodges wrote his chapter on Anglo-Saxon remains in County Durham for The Victoria History of the County of Durham Volume 1, Wooler’s exaggerated version of the number of bodies in the Greenbank cemetery was the one that was officially recorded. And by time the Greenbank find was published in the eminent British art historian Gerard Baldwin Brown‘s important six-volume series of scholarly books entitled The Arts In Early England, Wooler’s version was absolutely set in stone:
At Darlington a few miles north of the Tees, within the limits of the present town and on comparatively elevated ground there were discovered in 1876 about a dozen skeletons of men, women and children, laid with their feed to the east and accompanied by tomb furniture. Iron swords, spear heads, and shield bosses were in evidence as well as beads and several brooches in different forms. Three spear heads and a cruciform bronze fibula, in the collection of Mr. Edwards Wooler of Darlington are shown … The latter is of a VI type, dating about 550 A.D., and the interments were in all probability of the pagan period.
An image of the spear heads (labelled number 4, bottom right) was published in Volume 3, 1915:
and an image of the bronze cruciform fibula (labelled number 8, left) was published in Volume 4, 1915:
As Roger Miket and Michael Pocock note in their 1976 paper An Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Greenbank, Darlington: “By far the most thorough account [of the Greenbank finds] is that by R. Scarr in the Darlington & Stockton Times, 20 Oct, 1862 [sic]“. R. Scarr must also have been psychic to have written an article about an archaeological find in 1862 that was not discovered until 1876; this typing error caused much wasted time in The Centre for Local Studies at Crown Street Library in Darlington scrolling through endless mirofilm of the D&S Times and also The Northern Echo, but thankfully the brilliant librarians there located Scarr’s article the following day, which was actually written in 1962:
Scarr_cropped_contrastAnglo-Saxon Relics Dispersed from Darlington
Labourer’s discovery when digging a drain at Greenbank
One of the most interesting archaeological discoveries made in the area which now forms the County Borough of Darlington was that of January 28, 1876, when an Anglo-Saxon cemetery was rudely disturbed during the building on the Greenbank Estate,
A labourer, Patrick Foley, working for Mr. Prior, building contractor, while excavating for a drain on the highest point of the west bank of the Skerne Valley – where is now Dodds Street – cut into a number of ancient graves, containing skeletons and grave furnishings, deposited by some early civilization.
Fearing that the bones might belong to some victims of foul play in the area, the police were immediately informed and Supt. Rogers accompanied by Dr. Easby made their way up the hill to examine the site of the strange discovery.
Carefully removing more of the soil, they found what was later pronounced to be an Anglo-Saxon burial ground, dating from the seventh or eighth century A.D. The news of the discovery spread throughout the town and large numbers of people visited the site to inspect the centuries old sepulchre.
Unfortunately no systematic scientific excavation was carried out at the time, but much of the material taken from the graves – after being first taken to the police station – passed into private hands and has later found its way into some of our museums. Anglo-Saxon burial grounds have been discovered in other places in the North of England, mainly at Yeavering, Whitburn, Catterick, Hartlepool and Hurbuck.
Graves Furnished
The Darlington site consisted of a number of rectangular pits or graves and the bodies, fully clothed, as was the practice in pre-Christian times, had been laid in the ground facing the east.
At the head of each grave was an earthenware food vessel, and objects of personal adornment, or weapons used during the lifetime of the deceased. These consisted of bronze brooches, buckles from warriors belts, amber necklaces, iron spear heads, glass beads, tweezers, swords, rings and bosses belonging to ancient shields.
The series of graves no doubt formed part of a large “barrow” and the high mound of earth raised over the graves as a memorial of the departed gradually disappeared during succeeding centuries of agricultural and forestry activity.
The exact date when these burial places were used is now impossible to define. While some are of the opinion that they may date from the Pre-Augustinian era – up to the year 600 – others place them a century later.
Long after their conversion to Christianity, some of the tribes continued the pagan method of burial. There seems to be little doubt that the “hilltop cemetery” was used before the first Christian churchyard was provided in Darlington, and it is not difficult to picture the funeral processions of centuries ago, leaving the fortified Burgh of Darlington, set on the west side of the river, and slowly making its way up the hillside to the communal burial ground. There in the well furnished grave, replete with objects the dead had valued during their earthly existence, and provided with nourishment for their long journey to the spirit world, the body was laid in the grave amid the wailing and distress of the remaining relatives.
London Sale
The bones discovered were again covered in, but some of the skulls were sent to the British Museum and Dr. Woodward F.R.A.S., formed the opinion that one of them might have belonged to an earlier Briton. Mr. J. T. Abbott, a local chemist and a keen antiquarian, obtained possession of many of the objects taken from the graves, and from time to time they were shown to various societies in the town.
Shortly before his death, Mr. Abbott sent his valuable collection of coins and antiquities to be sold at Sotheby’s, London. An advertisement in “The Atheneum” of July 14, 1888, announces the sale at Sotheby’s Auction Rooms on July 18 and the following three days, of the collection of various antiquities belonging to Mr. J. T. Abbott of Darlington, and Robert Richmond, a clergyman. The Sale Catalogue, preserved in the British Museum, gives the details of several lots which were sold as “Anglo-Saxon Antiquities found at Greenbank, Darlington in 1876.”
In 1888 J. T. Abbott’s collection of antiquities was auctioned at Sotheby’s (not Christie’s as Wooler stated to the Newcastle Antiquaries). Roger Miket and Michael Pocock outline in detail the items from the Greenbank find that were bought and subsequently lost, sadly including the “large necklace, composed of amber, glass and stone beads”. The two iron swords – one “very perfect” never even seem to have made it to auction and are also lost.
Sir John Evans acquired some of the Greenbank finds from the Sotheby’s sale and these were donated to the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford in 1927 by his son Sir Arthur Evans, who was curator of the museum from 1884-1908. These remain on display there to this day:
The two iron shield bosses that were in the possession of Canon Greenwell plus a brooch and what was probably a spear head that he also had from the Greenbank find were sold to The British Museum in 1879 as part of his huge collection of antiquities, but none of these Greenbank artefacts are currently on display there.
Edward Wooler, one of his good points being that he was a civic-minded Alderman of Darlington, donated his artefacts from the Greenbank find to the town’s new Museum in Tubwell Row soon after it opened in 1921.
The Centre for Local Studies at Crown Street Library in Darlington still holds a poster that was on display in the museum in the early1960s, before the artefacts were transferred to The Bowes Museum according to R. Scarr (where sadly they now seem to be in storage):
Roger Miket and Michael Pocock concluded in their paper that from the grave goods it appears there were a minimum of two male ‘warrior’ burials due to the two swords, two shields and the spears found (which appear to number at least four – Wooler’s three and Greenwell’s probable one). They also suggested that as the different types of brooches that were found (square-headed, cruciform, long and the now lost circular) were in pairs this may also indicate two female burials. They pointed to a possible link between the Greenbank site at Darlington and the Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Fonaby near Grimsby in north east Lincolnshire, based on the strong resemblance between the large highly decorated square-headed brooches found at both sites. They dated most of the grave goods at the Greenbank site to around AD 550-650, but believed that the small long brooches could possibly be dated to earlier than this.
Some Thoughts …
The first written name we have for Darlington is ‘Dearthingtun’, recorded around AD1003 when Styr Ulfsson, the Lord of the Manor, granted the land to the community of St. Cuthbert, the monks who had carried Cuthbert’s coffin around the north east before its final resting place at Durham, and had supposedly passed through Darlington on their journey.
One suggestion for the original meaning of the name Dearthington was ‘the settlement of Deornoth’s people’ – ‘Deornoth-ing-tun’ (‘ing’ meaning folk, family or tribe, and ‘tun’ meaning enclosed farmstead or village).
We know that ‘Deor’ was a man’s name in the 10th century due to the Anglo Saxon poem Deor from The Exeter Book, where a bard of that name laments that he has lost his position and lands as he is no longer in his Lord’s favour and has been replaced by another.
Deor can mean “brave, bold” but also “grievous, ferocious.” As a noun it means “wild beast.”
Craig Williamson, The Complete Old English Poems, page 521
Deer can be traced back to the Old English word deor, but the word’s use in Old English was somewhat different than deer’s is today. To the Anglo-Saxons, a deor was not necessarily the gentle, forest creature signified by the modern deer, but the word could be used for any undomesticated, four-legged animal, including fabulous beasts of legend. The word carried a connotation of wildness and ferocity …
Dave Wilton, Wordorigins.org
‘Noth’ means courage or daring.
In his 2008 Darlington & Stockton Times article Unearthing the beastly past of Darlington, historian Simon Young wrote:
And what do we know about Deornoth?
Unfortunately, absolutely nothing. No records have made it down to us, no tomb survives.
But the word Deornoth does tell us something about the times that he lived in, for as with almost all early English names Deornoth is really two words jammed together.
Deor meant ‘beast’ – our word deer comes from here. Noth, on the other hand, meant ‘boldness’.
So Deornoth was Beast-boldness.
And this gives us an insight into the militarised tribal society in which Beast Boldness was born: for this was a time when a mother would be proud to call her son a bold beast, thinking of his future battles. And when did Beast Boldness live?
Well, the Settlement Named for Beast Boldness was first recorded in the eleventh century, but it may have been five hundred years old by then.
Deornoth – he who is as brave, ferocious and courageous as a wild beast. It certainly creates an image. You really, really would not want to get on the wrong side of him or his family.
Simon Young states that no tomb of Deornoth survives. But what if it did – and the bodies found in 1876 were those of Deornoth and his kin? We can never prove this of course, it’s just a romantic notion – but the high status, prestigious grave goods of swords and decorated bronze brooches must have belonged to a powerful and successful warrior who may possibly have been Deornoth, the founder of Darlington.
We don’t know whether the graves at Greenbank were covered by one or several small burial mounds or whether they were marked in some other way. R. Scarr writing in The Darlington & Stockton Times on 20th October 1962 was of the opinion that there was one barrow covering all of the graves:
The series of graves no doubt formed part of a large “barrow” and the high mound of earth raised over the graves as a memorial of the departed gradually disappeared during succeeding centuries of agricultural and forestry activity.
There is no tumulus marked on the OS map circa 1860 and there is no local story or legend of anything being in that location. In 1876 the site of the Greenbank Anglo Saxon burials was just slightly below the top of a small hill in a field overlooking Four Riggs Lane, which led from Bondgate to Darlington’s only windmill, built in 1763, which was located where the junction of Easson Road, Corporation Road and Bartlett Street is now.
unrecorded digging, no ring ditch. Monuments raised over graves are sometimes recognized. Post-holes and slots indicate the former presence of markers above, or adjacent to, some graves (e.g. Evison 1988: 32; Hirst 1985: 25) https://howardwilliamsblog.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/mp-in-ease-cheste-rep-06-11-16.pdf posts marking graves. the absence of ring ditches around many graves is not evidence for the absence of above-ground monuments. Early Anglo-Saxon cemeteries were more than collections of graves. Cemeteries were ‘places of power’ in the early Anglo-Saxon landscape. mounds and ‘mortuary houses’ could surmount graves. At West Heslerton, North Yorkshire, the cemetery focused upon a series of Neolithic and early Bronze Age monumentsAt West Heslerton, North Yorkshire, the cemetery focused upon a series of Neolithic and early Bronze Age monuments. Finally, the worked and inhabited landscape cannot be ignored. Archaeological evidence is showing that, rather than being situated on marginal land, early Anglo-Saxon burial sites were often incorporated into the routines of labour and living. Burial grounds seem often to have been situated in close proximity to routes. River systems or routeways
Early Anglo-Saxon cemeteries – Kinship, community and identity | manchesterhive
False crest location. Feet towards the east. Settlement was Northgate rather then Bondgate?
Topography – axe, could have been an earlier mound?
One of the finds that may have come from the Greenbank burial and is held by the Ashmolean Museum are a pair of iron bands, seen on display together with the urn in the image below:
These are almost certainly the “pair of iron bracelets” bought as part of Lot 463 in the auction of J. T. Abbott’s collection of antiquities at Sotheby’s in 1888.
Amongst the companion pieces which shared this lot number – including bronze and stone axes, stone arrowheads, etc.- the iron ‘bracelets’, subsequently credited with a Greenbank provenance, here make their first appearance.
Roger Miket and Michael Pocock, An Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Greenbank, Darlington, page 64
They are described in the Sotheby’s catalogue as follows:
Two iron bands (PL. IX, B). Ave. diam. 7.3 cm.-7.5 cm., width I cm, thickness 3 mm. Ashmolean Museum, accn. no. 1927.3350. Two bands fashioned from oval-sectioned iron strips, their ends turned out at right angles and hooked together.
Roger Miket and Michael Pocock, An Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Greenbank, Darlington, page 66
J. N. L. Myres, contributing to Miket and Pocock’s paper, briefly mentions the iron bands:
The earliest record of these objects is amongst the pages of Sotheby’s catalogue. If this attribution is correct they are hard to parallel amongst known Anglo-Saxon equipment, and indeed it is difficult to suggest a function for them at any period.
These iron bands certainly do not look like ‘bracelets’; they look like iron manacles. If they did come from the Greenbank burials, this fascinating lecture by Professor Ronald Hutton may give a clue to their function (30 mins,17 seconds from the start):
Now the bad news, the sinister stuff. There’s quite a bit of this. A quarter of all inhumations (that’s a lot) were buried with one body lying on top of another. Now in many cases this is fine, it may have been to indicate a family relationship, reuniting people intimately in the grave; but in nine well-scattered cases high status burials – rich people, female or male – were accompanied by a lower-status person put unceremoniously over or under them. In other words the rich person was laid out really carefully and had the goods, and then some unfortunate was thrown in either on top or thrown in and then the body laid out over them. At Welbeck Hill in Lincolnshire, a woman had been beheaded and buried over a man who had prestigious grave goods. At Portway in Hampshire, a man had been laid over a woman who had apparently been put into the grave with bound wrists. In four cases (this is where it gets really dreadful) it was actually suspected by archaeologists that people had been buried alive, but don’t worry – this is now disputed, as the bones were in all cases badly disarranged so that analysis is difficult. So you can believe the creepy interpretation if you like but you don’t have to. At Worthy Park, in Hampshire, a girl was thrown into a grave with both her wrists and her heels apparently tied together; so she could have been a human sacrifice or an executed criminal.
Most of the bodies which accompany other burials, in an apparently subservient relationship, are also face-down, and this is so rare in general (it’s 1 case in every 145 bodies) that it must be deliberate. It may have been to keep the person’s corpse or ghost from prowling and causing trouble – after all if you chuck them in unceremoniously you don’t want their ghost tapping you on the shoulder later and demanding an explanation or restitution, or it could have been to keep the spirit of the person in the grave to guard it and prevent it from being desecrated – so you are posting a sentinel there for good. Note folks, the modern East Anglian ghost stories of M. R. James stand in a very long tradition here of creepy guardian sentinels for burial places.
Professor Ronald Hutton, ‘Anglo-Saxon Pagan Gods’, Gresham College lecture, Wednesday 1st Feb 2023, transcript (30 mins,17 seconds from the start)
And this, A Warning To The Curious by M.R. James, is about as creepy as you can get:
If the iron bands were manacles, their design is curious. The ends turned out at right angles and hooked together must have certainly got in the way and got caught on things for the unfortunate slave or criminal who was forced to wear them. But what if they were fitted just before that person was killed and thrown in the grave? The design would not matter then, all that would have mattered was that the lower status person was wearing manacles when they died, that power and control had been asserted over their body and therefore symbolically over them in the afterlife, where they would forever serve or guard the higher status person they were buried with.
Heritage Gateway – Results – Welbeck Hill Anglo-Saxon Cemetery very close to the Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Fonaby
Could the Greenbank burials have contained a human sacrifice?
Miket and Pocock – The skeletons were left in the ground except the skulls. prior to reburial, the skulls of the skeletons were sent to Dr Smith-Woodward, at the British Museum of Natural History, who pronounced that “one may have belonged to an earlier Briton”.
The British Museum (Natural History) has no records of this report and the material was not accessioned.
Briton, the slave sacrificed? Or an earlier burial – axes would suggest this
Limited knowledge due to lack of recording.
Bones and skulls still in the ground? Seems incredible.
choose what you want to believe like Hutton says.
Further Reading / Bibliography:
Brown, Gerard Baldwin, The Arts in Early England, 1915
Historic England, Pre-Christian Cemeteries: Introduction to Heritage Assets
Hodges, Charles C., The Victoria History of the Counties of England: A History of Durham Volume 1, 1905, page 211
“J. T. A.”, The North Eastern Independent newspaper, Saturday 1st February 1879 – unfortunately I have not been able to get a copy of this – The Centre for Local Studies at Crown Street Library in Darlington only has a few copies from 15th February 1879 onwards and no copies are held by The British Newspaper Archive. It may be available from the Newspaper Collection at the British Library.
Miket, R., Pocock, M., Myres, J. N. L., & Swanton, M. J. (1976) An Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Greenbank, Darlington. Medieval Archaeology, Volume 20, Number 1, pages 62–74
Meaney, Audrey A Gazetteer of Early Anglo-Saxon Burial Sites, 1963, page 83-84
Newman, C. M., ‘Origins to 1600’ in The Victoria History of the Counties of England: A History of the County of Durham Volume IV Darlington, 2005, page 10 (not available online but there is a copy in The Centre for Local Studies at Crown Street Library in Darlington and also in the Learning Resources Centre at Darlington College)
Pevsner, Nikolaus, The Buildings of England: County Durham, 1953, page 139
Scarr, R, ‘Anglo Saxon Relics Dispersed From Darlington’, Darlington & Stockton Times, 20th October 1962
Yorkshire Gazette, ‘Interesting Exhibition of Saxon Antiquities’, April 1905
Postscript:
As an aside, while researching this article I found this antique engraved bookplate on ebay showing the crest of a J. T. Abbott of Abbeville, Darlington, dated 1860 :
Intrigued as to whether it might be the J. T. Abbott from this story, I looked up ‘Abbeville’ (a house name I didn’t recognise) and found this photograph from the Darlington Centre for Local Studies at Crown Street Library:
Abbeville was one of the ‘lost’ houses on the southern side of Victoria Road, demolished in the early 1970s to make way for the dual carriageway.
I also found a record for a ‘John Thomas Abbott’ in the West Cemetery Headstone’s Database, who died on 3rd September 1889. If the crest on the headstone matches the one on the bookplate then I think we may have found our J. T. Abbott.
Also, during my research, I have found a company called ‘Potted History’ which makes a really nice replica of the Darlington Anglo Saxon Urn: