Excavation at Killeaba, Ramsey, Isle of Man

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The excavation of this site on the southern outskirts of Ramsey (nat. grid ref. SC452936) was undertaken as a rescue operation when a building estate was to encroach upon the large mound which formed a conspicuous feature in the field. The Manx Museum and National Trust acknowledges the co-operation of the Planning Committee of the Isle of Man Local Government Board in stipulating as a condition of planning approval that opportunity must be given for scientific examination of the site. The excavation (necessarily accommodated with other commitments, and briefly delayed through snow) took place within the period December 1968 to April 1969.Early References to the Site. As well as a strong local tradition that the mound was a burial place, references to the site occur in the local antiquarian literature. The earliest appears to be that in Oswald's Vestigia (1860, 57–58), where he notes the inspection of this site by the Rev. W. Kermode of Ramsey at the time when it was first given over to the plough, c. 1850. Kermode remarked that the ‘mound of considerable dimensions … had on the top the usual kist vaen,—a rude stone grave, consisting of a few upright stones with a large heavy slab resting on the top; within were found some very small pieces of unbaked pottery, with a black substance which was probably charred human bones.’ From the north–south orientation of the cist he surmised that it might have been a Viking grave.