Wednesday 25 July 2018

Bury (Lancashire): Visiting a Bronze Age Burial Site


Up until last year, I never knew that Bury had its very own Bronze Age burial site, Whitelow Cairn.


As it happened, Whitelow Cairn turned out to be very near Grants Tower, on a hill at the top of Walmersley Road (where the buses run down into Ramsbottom).  The old (possibly ancient) path up to Whitelow Cairn is signposted on Walmersley Road:



The Cairn is actually located on top of a hillock in a farmer's field:


I struggled to find the place, but, thankfully, when I was in a wrong field, I was pointed in the right direction.


Have just read that between 1960 and 1965, members of the Bury Archaeological Society excavated this Bronze Age Cairn Circle.


And that an extremely rare, ceramic stud (for fastening a cloak) was found there.


And that quite a few cremation urns were found too, with it having been a burial place, after all.


Yes, this place had a kind of solemnity, it's really amazing what you can find in Bury if you put your mind to it.

 

During an afternoon saunter, I got to visit Tentering Tower in Ramsbottom/Stubbins and Grants Tower and Whitelow Cairn at the top of Walmersley Road overlooking Ramsbottom and the Irwell Valley.  

These were three things on my bucket-list that I had to do while visiting my old hometown of Bury, Lancashire, for a few days.


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