Monument record MDO1274 - Bowl barrow in the Black Down Group, Kingston Russell

A Bronze Age bowl barrow on the south-west end of Black Down, and visible as earthworks on aerial photographs. This barrow was excavated in 1972 by C J Bailey, who found a contracted skeleton which appeared to have been placed on the original ground surface, as no dug grave could be seen, under a flint mound. Beaker sherds were also found on the soil surface beneath the mound.

Excavated, primary, contracted skeleton (sex uncertain) facing North West, on original ground surface (there was no dug grave) no grave goods were recovered, the mound was largely of flints and ditched, beaker sherds were on the pre-barrow soil beneath the mound. <6>

A bowl barrow, diameter 11 paces, height 1 1/2 ft. <2>

A: A grass covered, ditchless bowl barrow; diameter 11.0m, height 0.6m. <4>

A single burial was also removed from barrow A, SY 57789046. <7>

A bowl barrow, part of a loose scatter of round and bank barrows among the extensive South Dorset Ridgeway group. The scatter of mounds were grouped together by RCHME as Group R2 in their subdivision of the Ridgeway group, and comprise 9 round barrows and two bank barrows southwest of Black Down. Linear ditches of proable later prehistoric date (SY 59 SE 22) impinge on the barrow group. Listed by RCHME as Kingston Russel 6a and by Grinsell as Kingston Russell 11, Ordnance Survey field investigation in 1955 described this particular barrow as a grass covered, ditchless bowl barrow 11 metres in diameter and 0.6 metres high. <2-8>

Site of a Bronze Age bowl barrow on the south-west end of Black Down. The site is visible as earthworks on aerial photographs. <11>

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

TUMULI [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 Grinsell, L V, 1935-54, Dorset Barrows 1935-54 Manuscript (Unpublished document).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) (Monograph). SDO97.

‘(6) … (h) Bowl barrow, 100 yards W.N.W. of (g), is 34 ft. in diam. and 2 ft. high; it has been disturbed in the middle.’

<4> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 03-05-55 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<5> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 115 (Monograph). SDO132.

<6> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1973, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1972, 76 (Serial). SDO72.

<7> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1982, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1980, 26 (Serial). SDO80.

<8> Grinsell, L V, 1982, Dorset Barrows Supplement, 43 (Monograph). SWX1703.

‘Excav. By CJB: primary cremation in collared urn covered by small flint cairn. To E of barrow was a cremation cemetery of 5 token deposits in small holes, and a contracted inhumation of a child with a miniature biconical urn. The child’s feet had been cut off before burial and were missing. RCHM 6n. Bailey, 1974. DCM (1980-24.3).’

<9> Papworth, M, 1983, The South Dorset Ridgeway Project: condition and management survey, SDR 20 (Index). SDO12304.

‘Ploughed out. The site is now under a new growth of grass. Some ridges and bumps are probably the remains of the excavation trenches. 1/7/E.’

<10> Wessex Archaeology, 2011, South Dorset Ridgeway Barrow Survey 2010 (Unpublished document). SDO12407.

<11> 02-APR-1969, NMR OS/69053 004-5 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11126.

<12> Historic England, Historic England Archive (Index). SDO14738.

Object Number
Object Title
Scope And Content
71/9A/2 NORTH-EAST QUADRANT - BUCKET URN DURING EARLY STAGE OF EXCAVATION. Donor: UNKNOWN
71/9A/4 SOUTH-WEST QUADRANT DURING EXCAVATION LOOKING EAST. Donor: UNKNOWN
71/9A/5 NORTH-EAST QUADRANT LOOKING WEST. Donor: UNKNOWN
71/9A/7 NORTH-EAST QUADRANT SHOWING BUCKET URN AND FOOD VESSEL ASSOCIATED WITH INFANT BURIAL, LOOKING WEST. Donor: UNKNOWN
71/9A/8 NE QUADRANT SHOWING SOIL MARK OF INTRUSED INFANT BURIAL. Donor: UNKNOWN
71/9A/9 NE QUADRANT SHOWING SOIL MARK OF INTRUSED INFANT BURIAL. Donor: UNKNOWN
71/9B/12 SOUTH-EAST QUADRANT LOOKING NORTH. Donor: UNKNOWN
71/9B/13 NORTH-EAST QUADRANT LOOKING SOUTH. Donor: UNKNOWN
71/9B/14 NORTH-EAST QUADRANT LOOKING SOUTH. Donor: UNKNOWN
71/9B/17 NORTH-EAST QUADRANT LOOKING WEST. Donor: UNKNOWN
71/9B/18 SOUTH-WEST QUADRANT LOOKING NORTH. Donor: UNKNOWN
71/9B/19 SOUTH-WEST QUADRANT LOOKING EAST. Donor: UNKNOWN
71/9B/20 SOUTH-WEST QUADRANT LOOKING NORTH. Donor: UNKNOWN
71/9B/21 GENERAL VIEW LOOKING NORTH-WEST. Donor: UNKNOWN
71/9B/22 NORTH-EAST QUADRANT. REMAINS OF INTRUSED INFANT BURIAL. Donor: UNKNOWN
71/9B/23 INFANT BURIAL TO SOUTH OF PRIMARY BURIAL, LOOKING NORTH. Donor: UNKNOWN
71/9B/24 GENERAL VIEW LOOKING NORTH-EAST. Donor: UNKNOWN
71/9B/27 VIEW SHOWING POSITIONS OF INHUMATIONS LOOKING NORTH-EAST. Donor: UNKNOWN
71/9B/28 SHOWING INHUMATION OVERLYING PRIMARY BURIAL, LOOKING EAST. Donor: UNKNOWN
71/9B/29 SHOWING INHUMATION OVERLYING PRIMARY BURIAL LOOKING SOUTH. Donor: UNKNOWN
71/9B/30 GENERAL VIEW LOOKING NORTH. Donor: UNKNOWN
72/1A/14 RECONSTRUCTED FOOD VESSEL FOUND WITH INFANT BURIAL AND BUCKET URN. Donor: UNKNOWN
72/1A/16 REMAINS OF BEAKER FOUND WITH PRIMARY INHUMATION. Donor: UNKNOWN
72/1A/8 SMALL FLINT AXE AND BARBED AND TANGED FLINT ARROWHEAD FROM UNSTRATIFIED POSITIONS. Donor: UNKNOWN
73/9A/2 PRIMARY CREMATION URN. Donor: UNKNOWN
73/9A/4 INHUMATION TO EAST OF BARROW. Donor: UNKNOWN
AO55/128/5 VIEW OF BOWL BARROW 'D'
BB86/05027 BOWL BARROW 'D', TOPPED BY A LARGE SARSEN STONE. PART OF A GROUP OF AT LEAST SIX BOWL BARROWS. Donor: UNKNOWNCopyright: UNKNOWN

<13> National Record of the Historic Environment, 451159 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Oct 22 2024 1:00PM