Roman Settlement Thriplow/Whittlesford

History of Roman Settlement nr Thriplow/Whittlesford

Listed building / Scheduled Monument on Heritage at Risk Register

For archaeological report see:

https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/library/browse/details.xhtml?recordId=3200711&recordType=Journal

This is also known as the Conical / Chronicle Hills site.

Enid Porter refers to it in Cambridgeshire Customs and Folklore p185:

The Skeleton which lost its Head

In about the year 1826 Ebenezer Hollick, the Squire of Whittlesford, levelled the Conical Hills and in so doing unearthed some Roman remains, including some human skeletons. The skull of one of these was taken by a labourer named Matthews, who, on returning home, placed it on his bedroom mantelshelf.

In the middle of the following night he was awakened by a loud pounding on his door and on putting his head out of the bedroom window he saw in the garden below a headless skeleton which, in a deep hoarse voice, demanded the return of its stolen head. In his fright, poor Matthews was only too glad to get rid of the skull, so taking it from the shelf he at once three it down to its rightful owner.