3,000-year-old Bronze Age urn makes remarkable return to Newton Abbot

A Bronze Age urn dating back more than 3,000 years has returned to Newton Abbot and is one of the main exhibits as the Newton Abbot Museum reopens for the 2026 season.

Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery are loaning the urn to Newton Abbot Museum, which was discovered in a boundary ditch at Whitehill, on the northern edge of the town.

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The ceramic vessel is described as unusually large, weighing 15.5 kilograms and standing 43 centimetres tall, with a capacity of around 36 litres.

Experts believe it is a rare example of Trevisker Ware, a style of pottery that originated in what is now Cornwall and is thought to have been made locally. 

Traces of bone found inside the urn suggest it may have been used as a burial container.

Analysis indicates the clay used to make the urn may have come from the River Lemon. 

It was built using a traditional coil technique and features decoration that is described as unique within Devon, including straight sides, six external lugs and a combed pattern around the rim.

Museum Curator Joanna Eccles said the urn’s condition and location made it particularly significant.

“The urn was deliberately placed intact in a boundary ditch,” she said.

“Because it remained in one piece for so long, it is believed it was placed into a hole cut into the ditch feature.”

She added that the exact reason for its placement remains unclear.

“We cannot be certain why this urn was placed here but complete vessels found within landscape features are known from other sites and are often significant,” she said.

Ms Eccles said the display offers visitors a chance to reflect on Newton Abbot’s ancient past.

“We hope visitors will enjoy viewing the urn and forming their own ideas about how and why it came to rest where it did,” she said.

“The people who buried this urn are the ancestors of today’s Newtonians and it is fascinating to reflect on how different life was here 3,000 or even 3,500 years ago.”

Newton Abbot Museum opened for the season on January 20, with free admission. 

The museum is open from 9.30am to 4.30pm, Tuesday to Friday, and 9.30am to 1.30pm on Saturdays.