Brampton and Buxton to the south, and Oxnead on the east, furnished Sir Thomas Brown, mainly, with materials for his Hydriotaphia.
In 1820, Mr. John Adey Repton wrote an account of the sepulchral urns discovered by him in opening several tumuli upon Stowheath, in Tuttington, to the north[1].
Last year the unique specimens described by the Rev. A. Hart[2], were discovered in Felmingham, in ground formerly also a part of Stowheath; and more recently I had the good fortune to be present when several urns and other vessels were found on the same spot. It is a natural sand-hill, about 150 yards in diameter. The sand had been carted away in part, and the sides of a sand-pit so formed had fallen in, and left them exposed, as shewn in the accompanying drawing. They were seventeen in number, deposited together in the small space of two feet by eighteen inches. The uppermost, of common blue clay, about one foot in diameter, was placed in an upright position, so near the surface that it had been broken, probably, by the plough. It contained an iron substance, which formed a solid mass with indurated gravel and sand. There were no bones or ashes to be seen. Possibly, had there been any, they would not have been discernible, from the oxidization which had taken place. On breaking this mass, I found one coin, a first brass, I believe, of Severus, but the legend had been clipt away and obliterated. Immediately under this urn were fifteen[3] other vessels, apparently thrown together in disorder, some upright, some sideways, and one or two quite reversed; all of them were filled with sand and with the roots of grass which had grown into them. They were of ordinary dark clay, except three, two of which were of red and the third of light-coloured earth. These latter were painted red and black, with an ornamented and variegated border upon them, of a very low class of art. The remaining piece of pottery, of which a representation is here given, might have served as a lamp on an altar. It measured about three inches in height. The smaller end appears to have been the base, as the other is more smooth, and discoloured as if by burning. It is perforated, and the aperture at either end is sufficiently large to admit one's little finger.
