Monument record MDO102 - Bowl barrow on Askerswell Down, Askerswell

A Bronze Age bowl barrow described in 1952 as being around 26 feet in diameter with a mound around 2 feet high. Pieces of a Late Bronze Age urn were recovered from the ploughed surface of the barrow in the early 1950s, and are interpreted as the remains of a cremation burial.

A bowl barrow; diameter 9 paces, height 21/2ft. <2>

[Similar information] <6>

A bowl barrow with no visible ditch, situated in an arable field, now under grass. the barrow has a diameter of 9.0m., and a height of 0.6m <4>

Recent ploughing has produced fragments of an LBA urn with upright neck and weak shoulder. A pottery spindle whorl of cylindical form apparently from the same spot was also found. <5>

The site of a Bronze Age bowl barrow is visible as earthworks on aerial photographs on Askerwell Down. <7>

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1903 (Map). SWX1540.

[SY 53879205] TUMULUS [OE]

<2> Grinsell, L V, 1935-54, Dorset Barrows 1935-54 Manuscript (Unpublished document). SWX1556.

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments England, 1952, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume I (West), 15 (Monograph). SDO97.

'(17) Bowl barrow, on the N. side of the Bridport road 1,070 yards E.S.E. of the church, is 26 ft. in diam. and 2 ft. high.'

<4> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F2 NVQ 27-APR-55 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<5> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1956, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1954, 89-90 (Serial). SDO54.

‘Barrow west of Askerswell roadhouse. This barrow has been ploughed in recent years, and from its surface Mr. Butcher rescued fragments of a Late Bronze Age urn with a short upright neck and weak shoulder. A pottery spindle-whorl of cylindrical form, and a fossil echinoid, both apparently from the same spot, were also found.’

<6> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 87 (Monograph). SDO132.

<7> Royal Air Force, 22-JAN-1948, RAF/CPE/UK/2431 3152-3 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11404.

<8> National Record of the Historic Environment, 451509 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Oct 30 2023 4:56PM