Located on the top of this hill, before the turn of last century, was a barrow approximately 35ft wide and 2.5ft high. It was excavated in 1911 by local antiquarian C.T. Trechmann where he uncovered a total of four inhumations (unburnt human burials) along with six sets of cremated remains. A number of important tools and artefacts were also found during this excavation including beakers, cinerary or cremation urns and flint knives. These can be seen today at Sunderland museum.
The barrow would have originally been of a similar size to that at Copt Hill and therefore quite prominent in the landscape. Just a few yards to the south of the hill and approximately 10 metres to the right of where this photo is taken, are the remains of a ‘causewayed enclosure’ and the end of a ‘cursus’. Only visible from the air, these were once large earthen monuments and their traces all that is left of what was, in all probability, an important ceremonial meeting place, now levelled after millennia of ploughing.