The Walkington Wold burials in the East Riding of Yorkshire are the skeletal remains of 13 individuals from the Anglo-Saxon period, discovered in the late 1960s. Subsequent examinations have concluded that they were decapitated Anglo-Saxon criminals, the only such burial discovered in Northumbria.

Original excavation

Archaeologists Rod Mackey and John Bartlett discovered the burials while excavating the Bronze Age barrow at Walkington Wold, about 2 km west of the Yorkshire village of Walkington, from 1967 to 1969. The site was known in local folklore as Hell’s Gate. Twelve skeletons were unearthed, ten without heads, as well as eleven crania. All were buried randomly, the crania well away from the bodies. Some of the crania were found at the centre of the barrow mound, while the bodies were all located at its skirt. Theories of their identity included victims of a late Roman masacre, Anglo-Saxon executions, or even a Celtic head cult.

Re-evaluation

The skeletons were re-examined by archaeologists Jo Buckberry from Bradford University and Dawn Hadley from Sheffield University (Buckberry & Hadley, 2007). It was revealed that 13 individuals were unearthed in the late 1960s, all males between 18 and 45. According to radiocarbon dating the remains range from as early as the mid-seventh to as late as the early eleventh centuries. Examination of the skeletons revealed that their owners were subjected to judicial execution by decapitation, one of which required several blows. Furthermore, the heads were probably displayed on poles as warnings to others. This was a known practice in Anglo-Saxon England. The burial site is ideally situated for public display on a rise by a road. The absence of jawbones from most of the skulls suggests that they fell off as the heads decomposed on the poles.

The crimes of the men are unknown, owing to the lack of any associated documentation. The burial site is between the defunct village of Hunsley and Walkington, at the boundary of the hundreds of Welton and Cave. The use of an ancient barrow site situated on the boundaries between communities indicates that the executed were excluded from the community, even in death. The name Hell’s Gate may be a memory in local folklore of the site of the executions and head poles (Mackey, 2006).

Significance

Walkington Wold is unique as the only known dedicated execution burial from the Anglo-Saxon period north of the Humber. It is one of the few such sites excavated recently, using modern methods of reporting and preservation. The site contributes to evidence that such execution cemeteries were in use over a long time, being established long before their first documentation in the tenth century (Hadley & Buckberry, 2005: 130), as well as that men, rather than women, tended to be executed for crimes in late Anglo-Saxon England. It also shows a continuity over a period which includes the upheavals of Danish invasion and settlement.

References

• Buckberry, J.L. & Hadley, D.M. 2007 “An Anglo-Saxon Execution Cemetery at Walkington Wold, Yorkshire” Oxford Journal of Archaeology 26(3), 309–329. [608244]
• Hadley, D.M. & Buckberry, J.L. 2005 “Caring for the Dead in Late Anglo-Saxon England”, in Tinti, F. (ed) Pastoral Care in Late Anglo-Saxon England (Woodbridge: Boydell), 121-147.[608245]
• Mackey, R.W. 2006 "Walkingon Executions Re-dated" East Riding Archaeological Society Newsletter 2 November.
• Wood, Alexandra. 2007 “Grisly discovery of headless bodies gives insight into justice Saxon style” Yorkshire Post 31 December. [608246]

Further reading

• Bailey, G.B. 1985 "Late Roman Inland Signal Station, or Temple? Functional Interpretation at Walkington Wold." Yorkshire Archaeological Journal 57, 11-14.
• Bartlett, J.E. & Mackey, R.W. 1973 "Excavations at Walkington Wold, 1967-1969." East Riding Archaeologist 1(2), 1-100.
• Buckberry, J. L. 2008. "Off with their heads: The Anglo-Saxon execution cemetery at Walkington Wold, East Yorkshire". In E. Murphy (ed.) Deviant burial in the archaeological record. (Oxford: Oxbow), 148-168
• Reynolds, A. 1997 "The Definition and Ideology of Anglo-Saxon Execution Sites and Cemeteries" in De Boe, G. & Verhaege, F. (eds) Death & Burial in Medieval Europe (Zellick: Instituut voor het Archeologisch Patrimonium), 33-41.

External links

• Angelika Franz, “Das Geheimnis von Hell's Gate” Spiegel Online (accessed 16 January 2008) – German language, includes image gallery.
• Web sites of Dr Jo Buckberry and Dr Dawn Hadley.