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<< Our Photo Pages >> Copt Hill - Cairn in England in Tyne and Wear

Submitted by durhamnature on Monday, 07 October 2002  Page Views: 15352

Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Copt Hill
Country: England County: Tyne and Wear Type: Cairn
Nearest Town: Houghton le Spring  Nearest Village: Colliery Row
Map Ref: NZ353492  Landranger Map Number: 88
Latitude: 54.836386N  Longitude: 1.45194W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
 3 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
 2 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
 3 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
 3

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theaksy visited on 12th Jul 2023 - their rating: Cond: 2 Amb: 5 Access: 4 One of the most ambient places I've been to, very Yeatsian with the beech trees.

durhamnature visited Copt Hill is City of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, not County Durham.

Copt Hill
Copt Hill submitted by durhamnature : Copt Hill, The "Seven Sisters" trees. Site in City of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England (Vote or comment on this photo)
Cairn in Tyne and Wear

The friends of Copt Hill now have a website.
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Copt Hill
Copt Hill submitted by durhamnature : The Copt Hill Funerary Pot, and a range of similar pots. From John Abercromby's "A Study of Bronze Age Pottery", available as a download from the Internet Archive. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Do not use the above information on other web sites or publications without permission of the contributor.

Nearby Images from Geograph Britain and Ireland:
NZ3549 : Seven Sisters, Copt Hill near Houghton-le-Spring by Malc McDonald
by Malc McDonald
©2013(licence)
NZ3549 : The Seven Sisters, Copt Hill by David Robinson
by David Robinson
©2024(licence)
NZ3549 : Public Footpath to Broomhill by Gary Fellows
by Gary Fellows
©2017(licence)
NZ3549 : Copt Hill, near Houghton-le-Spring by Malc McDonald
by Malc McDonald
©2013(licence)
NZ3549 : Hetton - Warden Law Trail, near Houghton-le-Spring by Malc McDonald
by Malc McDonald
©2013(licence)

The above images may not be of the site on this page, they are loaded from Geograph.
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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 1.2km WNW 299° St Michael and All Angels (Houghton-le-Spring)* Burial Chamber or Dolmen (NZ342498)
 1.5km S 178° Fairies Cradle* Round Barrow(s) (NZ35374771)
 2.5km ENE 67° Warden Law* Round Barrow(s) (NZ376502)
 4.3km SE 138° Croup Hill Barrows, Murton Round Barrow(s) (NZ382460)
 4.4km N 3° Offerton Cursus Cursus (NZ355536)
 4.8km N 4° Offerton Cursus Cursus (NZ356540)
 5.2km N 0° Hasting Hill* Round Barrow(s) (NZ353544)
 6.2km ESE 122° Batter Law Round Barrow(s) (NZ406460)
 6.2km ESE 122° Batter Law Tumulus* Round Barrow(s) (NZ40604599)
 6.4km NW 315° Fatfield Barrow* Round Barrow(s) (NZ30735374)
 6.5km NE 47° Ryhope Caves* Cave or Rock Shelter (NZ39985366)
 6.5km SW 234° Woodwell House Ancient Village or Settlement (NZ30074531)
 6.5km NE 36° Tunstall Hills* Cist (NZ39145448)
 8.0km WNW 286° The Anker's House* Ancient Cross (NZ27575131)
 8.4km WNW 300° North Lodge Cursus Cursus (NZ280533)
 8.4km ESE 108° Hawthorn Barrow* Round Barrow(s) (NZ433467)
 8.8km NNE 31° Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens* Museum (NZ398568)
 9.7km SE 143° .Lows Hill Round Barrow(s) (NZ413415)
 9.9km NNE 30° St Peter's Church (Monkwearmouth)* Early Christian Sculptured Stone (NZ4016857783)
 10.2km SW 223° Maiden Castle (Durham)* Promontory Fort / Cliff Castle (NZ283417)
 10.6km SW 229° St Cuthbert's Well (County Durham)* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (NZ2727642218)
 10.6km SW 227° St. Oswald's Well* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (NZ27524190)
 10.7km SW 229° Galilee Well* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (NZ27274215)
 10.8km SW 229° Old Fulling Mill Museum of Archaeology* Museum (NZ272420)
 11.0km SW 234° Maiden's Bower (County Durham)* Round Cairn (NZ26434271)
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"Copt Hill" | Login/Create an Account | 7 News and Comments
  
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Re: Copt Hill by durhamnature on Sunday, 12 August 2012
(User Info | Send a Message)
A plan of the Copt Hill excavation can be seen in Roger Miket's "The Prehistory of Tyne and Wear"
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Copt Hill by Anonymous on Thursday, 30 June 2011
the friends fo copt hill now have a website.

can u add it to this page please.

http://www.friendsofcopthill.org.uk

[ Reply to This ]

Re: Copt Hill by Anonymous on Monday, 14 March 2011
The two mounds are also round barrows, but the one on the right going towards Doxford Park is believed to be man made. The other one has been ploughed and consequently any evidence will have been lost.
The burial urn was found under the Seven Sisters and is now in the British Museum.
The Friends of Copt Hill, a local community group, have tried, and failed, to get a seventh beech tree growing near the barrow. It must be to do with the bracing weather! We have recently observed some more circular marks in the field and hope to investigate with another dig either later this year or next.
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Copt Hill by Anonymous on Saturday, 06 March 2010
there was 7 trees there, 1 was chopped down in the miners strike,
i have a question, what about the mounds futher up the hill near warden law, can any one tell me what they are, i was born in a house were my bed room faced the 7 sisters and played there for years as a kid,
[ Reply to This ]
    Re: Copt Hill by wearwolf on Friday, 04 June 2010
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    The two mounds, one either side of the lane that leads up across Warden Law ? I've wondered about them too.

    Apparently some kind of very early burial [ashes in an urn] was discovered on one of them, but whether they are actually man-made or natural, I'm not sure. I've never come across mention of them in any history books, I dont think they've even got names... amazing really.

    I believe there were other barrows on Warden Law that were destroyed during quarrying work. It's a really ancient landscape... shame about the go-kart track !
    [ Reply to This ]

Re: Copt Hill by wearwolf on Friday, 10 August 2007
(User Info | Send a Message)
This is actually a round barrow, known as the Seven Sisters, situated on the western flank of Copt Hill, on the outskirts of Houghton-le-Spring, Tyne & Wear.

The barrow mound is 3m high and approx 25m diameter, and of earth & stone construction.

To the west & north of the barrow there are visible remains of a surrounding bank. Aerial photography has indicated a further boundry to the west & north - about 25m from the edge of the mound - and a rectilnear cropmark to the east is thought to be the terminal of a cursus.

The barrow was excavated in 1877 by Canon Greenwell, librarian of Durham Cathedral, and Captain Robinson. Their work revealed it to be a burial mound and dated its origins to the Neolithic, with evidence of use during the Bronze Age and, apparently, evidence of an early Medieval inhumation.

Excavations by Durham University in 2003-04 unearthed evidence that there was activity on the site 7000 years ago, placing its origins in the Mesolithic.

Copt Hill has been owned by Sunderland City Council since 2000, and the area is now a nature reserve. Lots of wild flowers in season and some great views... but rather more bracing in Winter !

The name Seven Sisters, incidentally, is probably fairly recent and refers to the mature Beech trees growing out of the barrow. There are six of them. Oh well, must have been seven once.

In fact, a seventh was planted a couple of years ago, but on a recent visit was very obviously dead.
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