Ringlemere barrow

The Ringlemere barrow is an archaeological site near Sandwich in the English county of Kent most famous as being the find site of the Ringlemere gold cup.

The cup is a Bronze Age vessel found in 2001 by a metal detectorist. Although badly crushed by plough damage it can be seen to be 14cm high with corrugated sides. The cup resembles a late Neolithic (approximately 2300BC) ceramic beaker with corded decoration but dates to a much later period. Only five similar cups have been found in Europe, dating to the period between 1700 and 1500 BC. It is similar to the Rillaton gold cup found in Cornwall in the nineteenth century.

This work has revealed a previously unsuspected funerary complex of Early Bronze Age date (approximately 2300 BC) had stood at the site. It is thought that the cup was not a grave good however but a votive offering placed at the centre of the barrow independent of any inhumation in approximately 1700 - 1500BC. No contemporary burials have in fact been found at the site although later Iron Age ones have since been found along with a Saxon cemetery.

The finder, Cliff Bradshaw, reported the find of the cup to the local coroner's office and through the Portable Antiquities Scheme and the Treasure Act 1996 the cup was recorded and declared to be Treasure Trove. It was bought by the British Museum with the money paid split between Mr Bradshaw and the Smith family who own Ringlemere Farm. The money to secure the cup for the nation was raised through donations by the Heritage Lottery Fund, the National Art Collections Fund and the British Museum Friends.

Excavation work has continued at the site, funded by English Heritage, the BBC, the British Museum and the Kent Archaeological Society. This work has indicated that the now ploughed-away barrow was as high as 5m and had a diameter of more than 40m. The flat-bottomed ditch that surrounded it was 5-6m wide and 1.35m deep. Considerable evidence of much earlier Neolithic activity has now been found on the site including by far the largest assemblage of grooved ware in the county. Current theories now focus on the site having been significant long before and after the barrow being built and that the ditch may have been that of an older henge or, more likely, hengiform monument.

External links

*Images of the cup
*The excavation at the find site