Monument record MDO1376 - Black Down: bowl barrow

Eight bowl barrows. A is large & B is three small ones [No dimensions given] C is 18" high. D. 22 paces diam. 4ft high E
32 paces x 8 ft with ditch F 16 paces x 1 1/2ft. See air photos STJ/BJ/10.11. <2>

A. Grass covered, diameter 24.0m, height 2.5m. On the W. side of the Ph. Boundary the ditch is 2.0m wide and 0.5m deep; on
the E. side of the boundary the ditch has been ploughed out. <4>

Site of a Bronze Age bowl barrow on the ridge to the south of Black Down. The barrow, which is crossed by a modern hedgeline, is visible as earthworks on aerial photographs. <7>

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

[Group Centred SY 58669008] 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 Grinsell, L V, 1935-54, Dorset Barrows 1935-54 Manuscript (Unpublished document).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), 38 (Monograph). SDO97.

‘(9) Barrows, forming a group of eleven, are ½ to ¾ m. N. of the church. (a), bowl barrow, lies on the boundary of Kingston Russell parish and on the top of the ridge; it is 82 ft. in diam. and 9 ft. high, with remains of a ditch.’

<4> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 31-DEC-54 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<5> Papworth, M, 1983, The South Dorset Ridgeway Project: condition and management survey, SDR (Index). SDO12304.

The barrow is divided in half by a N-S wall. The field to the west was under established grass while the east field was newly ploughed and sown with grass. Both mound and ditch were fenced off from the field on the W side but on the E only the mound had been fenced off to prevent further destruction by ploughing. The ditch on this side had already been ploughed out and the mound cut back to form a steep edge on its perimeter. On the W wide there were 3 fresh badger setts and evidence of several disused burrows showing the composition of the mound to be chalk rubble and larger flint nodules. 1/2/C

<6> Wessex Archaeology, 2011, South Dorset Ridgeway Barrow Survey 2010 (Unpublished document). SDO12407.

<7> 02-APR-1969, NMR OS/69053 003-4 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11151.

<8> National Record of the Historic Environment, 451256 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Jan 24 2024 3:06PM