Monument record RGH 001 - Eastlow Hill Tumulus

Eastlow Hill - Barrow.
1825: Marked on C & J Greenwood's Map of Suffolk.
1844: Partially excavated by Prof J H Henslow. Found a chamber with walls of flint & mortar with tile courses at intervals, on a flint and mortar platform and with a tiled roof. Contained an inhumation in a lead coffin. Coffin appears to have been enclosed in a wooden case. Inhumation appears to have been wrapped in animal skins (R1).
1871: Mound tree covered, elliptical, 17 feet high. Tunnel made in 1844 was still open and the chamber could still be seen in situ. Roof was mostly intact and the bones of the skeleton still lay in the chamber, minus the skull and the coffin (R2)(R3)(R4).
1935: Entrance at S end, through gate, leads to passage about 4 feet high with chambers set off to right and left and at end (?) slightly twisted to W. The chambers on E are open from outside. Suggestion of (?) Roman tile set into one of the chambers at NE. All other chambers are in earth. Wood supports (modern) are in centre. Sides and roof of internal structure look as if they have been recently excavated. Mound probably about 12 feet high and perhaps 35-45 yards long. Quite a horned entrance at S (R5).
1970: Mound although almost its original height (5.1m) is in a pitiful state, having been burrowed into from the E and SW and dug into in two places on top (R6).
1976: In small copse beside road, tree and ivy covered, much disturbed by old excavations. 4.82m high, circa 36m diameter (R7).
1978: The Eastlow Hill Tumulus, which was excavated in 1844, although mutilated on the SW and E and dug into places on top, is still a substantial mound 20 ft high situated among trees (S1)
See also RGH 002.

Opening of a Roman Tumulus. A most interesting discovery illustrative of the funeral customs of the Anglo-Romans, has been made in the parish of Rougham, on the estate of Philip Bennet, Esq. At the corner of the two roads leading to Hessett and Bradfield Manger, and within a few feet of the highway, stands the half of a hill called Eastlow Hill, and a slight distance therefrom were two semi-circular mounds about 50 and 60 feet in diameter, covered with herbage and shrubs. The men belonging to Mr Levett’s farm were engaged in clearing away one of these mounds, to lay the soil upon the land; when, on Friday last, having come to the centre, the pick of the workmen broke into an oven-shaped cist or cavern, containing sepulchral remains. A hole, between three and four feet square, appears to have been first dug about three feet below the general level of the country. Four rows of red hollow tile bricks, each 11 inches long, about 6 inches wide, and 7 inches deep, and nearly an inch thick, and having a circular hole in the middle of each end, were then placed on the soil, and covered with large flat tiles. The whole was arched over with tiles, forming a chamber about 2.5 feet square and 2 feet deep; open at one end. Each tile was ornamented with two striated bands, placed diagonally from angle to angle, & crossing in the centre. In this chamber was a large square canister-shaped urn of emerald green glass with a handle on one side. It was nearly 16 inches high and 8 inches wide; and was about half full of burnt bones. By the side of the urn was a large plain iron lamp, of the accustomed form, in length, from the wick chamber o the handle, nearly a foot. Unfortunately with the ignorance of the man who made the discovery, the cist was opened so carelessly that the fine and curious urn was broken. This part of the country must have been extensively occupied by the Romans for paterae, and pieces of pottery, swords, spurs, and other articles of iron, have been frequently, and for many years, discovered within two feet of the surface in this part of Rougham, and within the adjoining parish of Whelnetham. The land was common till within the last 30 years; and so many human bones were found, it is said, on removing part of the Eastlow Hill, that the then owner of the estate (Mr Keddington) refused to permit any more of the hill to be cleared. Adjoining to the tumulus which has been opened is another, as yet quite undisturbed; and near to them are the pits or trenches whence it is probable the soil was procured to heap up these simple and long -enduring resting-places. Whether Mr Bennett will sanction the removal of the remaining tumul is not known; but with a little care, its contents might be ascertained (S2).

“I had this day the gratification of visiting the Roman Tumulus at Rougham, of the excavation, and contents of which a minute and interesting account, from the pen of the Rev. J. S. Henslow, has appeared in your paper 20th instant.

Little need be added to the description of that gentleman of the vessels found within the ancient tombs. I doubt, however, whether two of the potters’ marks on the paterae of red ware have been successfully deciphered; I know from experience, in numerous specimens, that similar stamps on Roman vessels are often imperfectly impressed. He second stamp may, I imagine, be read MICCIO F., ie Micio fecit; the third ALBUCI, contractedly, for Albuci (manu).
The Roman Tumuli at Rougham are four in number, and are close to the eastern side of the road, the direction of which is nearly North and South. I need not here point out how precisely with the Roman custom the placing tombs by a road corresponds.

The road itself is therefore a vestige of roman occupation, yet a mere vicinal or rural communication, falling into a more important line of way, leading from Bury St Edmond’s to the S. E. quarter of the Icenia district. Numerous Roman remains are extant in the neighbourhood of Bury, and, together with the Saxon appellation which the place bears, corroborate its claims to have been a considerable Roman town.
The northernmost of the four tumuli is distinguished as Easlow or Eastlow-hill; the Saxon word low is often applied to Roman Barrows, for instance, Bartlow, Limlow,&c. This tumulus rises at least thwelve feet above the surface of the natural soil, and is about 100 feet in diameter; it does not appear to have been opened, but a portion of the W side has been cut away and applied to agricultural purposes. Its summit is at this time covered with hathorn bushes. The next tumulus south-ward of the eastlow, was opened some months since, and within a small chamber, composed of Roman tiles, and sunk beneath the natural surface of the soil, were found the square glass cinerary vase, iron lamp, and other articles described by Mr Henslow.

The third tumulus, fifty feet in diameter, and 5 feet in height, was explored last week; under it, sunk below the natural surface, was a chamber about 4 feet square, composed of Roman tiles, roofed in with the same materials and a coating of coarse stucco; see Mr Henslow’s paper above cited. This chamber contained the glass cinerary urn and vessels of the “caena feraliis”, described in the same notice. The tiles of which these tombs were constructed were of very large dimensions, they consist of long flat tiles the well known roof tiles turned up at the edges, and some perforated tiles used by the Romans for the flues of hypocausts. These materials were taken indiscriminately to form the sepulchral chambers, as being doubtless most readily to hand.

The fourth tumulus remains as yet unexplored, but its hillock has been much lower at some former period. There can be little doubt I think but the Easlow range of tumuli constituted the family sepulchres of some distinguished Roman colonists of the Icenian territory. Nor could their villa be far distant, although all memory and vestiges of its precise locality have perished.
It is much to be regretted that the single coin deposited with the ashes in the third tumulus, to pay “the grim ferryman that poets write of”, had so completely perished by oxidation, this coin could otherwise have afforded some indication of the period when the sepulchre was formed. From the size of the piece, I should not think it to be of later date than Antoninus.

The sinking of these tombs below the original surface of the soil, the protection of each of them by a large sepulchral mound “sepulchrum ingento modi” are circumstances which correspond precisely with the funeral rites described in the sixth book of the Aeneid.

The most praiseworthy facility is afforded by P. Bennet, Esq., in giving access to these relics, for those who take an interest in such discoveries. It is perhaps somewhat to be regretted that the walls composing the brick chamber of the third tumulus were not suffered to remain undisturbed for a short period. The whole of the tiles with which it was built are now removed to Rougham Old Hall (S3).