The Barrow Cemetery

Greenwich Park has an exciting secret. Did you know that the park is home to one of England’s best-preserved Anglo-Saxon barrow cemeteries? The cemetery can still be seen today.

The area around Croom’s Hill, north of The Avenue and west of the Meridian line, used to be a large burial ground, dating back to between AD 480 and AD 700. If you look closely – particularly during hot summers when the grass is parched – you may be able to spot a series of circular mounds. Each mound is known as a ‘barrow’, and it marks the location of at least one grave.

Let’s learn more about the barrow cemetery – and discover the archaeological digs that have revealed the history of this fascinating ancient site.

An ancient past 

The barrow cemetery was created during the Anglo-Saxon period. This era of history dates from AD 410-AD 1066, coming after the Romans and before the Medieval age.

During the Anglo-Saxon period, many people migrated to Britain from across the North Sea. They formed new communities with the population who lived here, and over time these groups formed kingdoms. In AD 600 Greenwich lay in the kingdom of Kent, but by AD 800 it was part of the kingdom of Wessex – which in turn became England over one hundred years later.

The first excavations 

The flat tops and backfilled holes on the barrow mounds tell us that people have excavated the site.

The first significant dig at the site came in 1784, conducted by the Reverend James Douglas – a geologist and antiquary (a kind of early archaeologist). He opened at least 20 of the barrows.

Douglas reported the findings in one of the chapters of his book Nenia Britannica, or A sepulchural history of Great Britain from the earliest period to its general conversion to Christianity (1786-1793). Ambitious in scale, the book covered the many digs that Douglas had overseen – including barrows at Chatham Lines, graves at Ashford in Kent and graves in Leicestershire. By the time he came to Greenwich Park, Douglas had gained extensive experience in excavating barrows sites.

In Douglas’ account of his dig at Greenwich he reports on finds including remnants of coffin nails, an iron spearhead, glass beads and textile fragments. Other finds indicated that people were buried with personal objects intended to ease their transition into the afterlife or as an offering to gods; these are known as ‘grave goods’.

Finds from Douglas’ excavations help us build an understanding of the religious beliefs held by people buried at the site. Christianity would have gained influence in Britain during the period that the cemetery was in use, but grave goods are generally considered not to be in the Christian tradition. The people buried here may have held pre-Christian or pagan beliefs, meaning that they worshipped many gods.

Greenwich Park opened to the public in the Victorian period. There was a dramatic increase in visitor numbers, resulting in desire lines forming across the park. One of these developed across the barrow site, which later became a formalised gravel path and, in the 20th century, a tarmac path. It ran from Croom’s Hill Gate towards the Observatory and there was once a metal fence running along each side, which we can date to around 1900.

Greenwich Park Revealed

Greenwich Park Revealed is an ambitious multi-year project to restore and rejuvenate the park for future generations. The project included removal of the tarmac path to return the barrows to their original landscape setting, as well as bolstering the acid grassland habitat around the area.

Archaeological work began in 2021, led by Greenwich Park’s in-house Community Archaeologist. The exciting project had two objectives: 

1. To monitor the removal of the tarmac path and check for any exposed archaeology.
2. To dig a series of trenches, in consultation with Historic England, to explore the buried archaeology further. 

The dig did not uncover any more Anglo-Saxon finds, but it did reveal useful insights into how the mounds were prepared and constructed. Layers of turf and gravel in the mounds suggest that they were built up over time, and may hint at maintenance work carried out in the Anglo-Saxon period – possibly in the same way you might tend a grave today. The site may even have had its own caretaker or overseer.

The archaeology team recorded the trenches they dug, using photography and hand-drawn plans. The site was carefully backfilled, and the line of the path reinstated with soil.

Later work carried out as part of Greenwich Park Revealed helped to restore the valuable acid grassland that was threatened by the tarmac path, ensuring that this vital habitat would continue to flourish for years to come. Acid grassland supports a huge variety of plant and wildlife species – discover more here.

The Anglo-Saxon barrows in Greenwich Park are a Scheduled Monument. Find out more at Historic England’s official listing.

If you’ve enjoyed learning about Greenwich Park’s archaeology, discover more here.