Monument record MDO1280 - Barrow in the Black Down Group, Kingston Russell

Excavated, primary cremation in collared urn covered by small flint cairn, to East 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. <3>

A probable bowl barrow, part of a loose scatter of barrows (see SY 59 SE 48 and associated monuments). The barrow was not initially noted by either RCHME or Grinsell. It was included by RCHME in a subsequent discussion of the Ridgeway barrow group, listed as Kingston Russell 6n and described as a ditched bowl barrow 18 metres in diameter. The site was excavated in circa 1973 in an attempt to (a) confirm the presence of a barrow, and (b) clarify the relationship between the suggested barrow and the junction of linear features immediately adjacent to it. The excavations uncovered what appear to be the remains of a plough-levelled mound, represented by scattered flints over an area circa 8 metres in diameter. There was no trace of a ditch, earlier reports of one possibly relating to misidentification of the linear ditch junction. Beneath the centre of this remnant mound was a chalk-cut pit containing a cremation in a cord-decorated urn. The mound also concealed another chalk-cut pit with cremation and potsherds, and a stakehole. Immediately east of the barrow was a cluster of pits which appeard to group around a grave containing a crouched child inhumation. The skeleton lacked feet, but was accompanied by a small biconical vessel. The other pits were all heavily plough-damaged, but a few contained evidence of cremations and potsherds. One isolated cremation deposit occurred northwest of the mound. Little of the pottery is particularly diagnostic, but appears likely to belong to the early to middle Bronze Age. (1-3)

This site was originally described as part of SY 59 SE 48. That record should be consulted for additional sources and details. <6>

<1> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 43 (Monograph). SDO132.

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 460 (Monograph). SDO150.

<3> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1974, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1973, 100 (Serial). SDO73.

'Some Archaeological and Historical Notes on Sites in the Bride Valley. The Excavation of a Cairn on Black Down, Kingston Russell. With a grant from the Department of the Environment investigation of the area in the vicinity of barrows 6g, 6h and 6n was continued (R.C.H.M., Dorset, Vol. II, 1970, Part 3, plan p. 460). The Royal Commission's 'ditched bowl barrow', Kingston Russell 6n, was not listed by Grinsell in "Dorset Barrows", 1959, nor in the Commission's Vol. I, 1952, but was added when the great Ridgeway Barrow Group was reconsidered as a whole for the second volume. The national grid reference is SY 578904. Excavation showed not a large bowl barrow but a small flint cairn covering a cremation contained in an overhanging-rim urn. What appeared on the surface to be a large barrow ditch was found to the the convergence of two linear ditches. A small cremation cemetery to the east of the cairn contained five token burials in small holes and the crouched inhumation of a young child with a miniature biconical urn. The feet of the child had been cut off before burial and were missing. The linear ditches were sectioned in several places but no clue to their origin was found. A detailed report will be published when the excavation is complete.'

<4> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1982, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1980, 27-29 (Serial). SDO80.

<5> Wessex Archaeology, 2011, South Dorset Ridgeway Barrow Survey 2010 (Unpublished document). SDO12407.

<6> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1316301 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Jun 1 2022 12:36PM