Monument record MDO1421 - Bronze Age disc or saucer barrow, Stancombe Farm, Litton Cheney

(Not listed) <1>

This barrow is situated on the 600 ft contour 680 yds S.E. of [(12) `B`]. <2>

Centred at: (SY 55399344) this barrow was not identified during field investigation. It was not found on the 600ft
contour, and this seems an unlikely position, since the hill slopes steeply between 700ft and 550ft. the more likely
position for a barrow would be on the hill-top above the 700ft contour, but here repeated ploughing has left no trace. The area above 700ft is at present ploughed. <3>

"The ring-bank was only a few inches above ground level, and 9" above it's ditch. The interior area was 31' in diam. And the measurement from bank to bank (presumably crest to crest) was 45.'. It seems to show on air-photos CPE/UK/2431, prints 4151-2. Re-examination alone would explain why the suggestion was made that it may have been a disc-barrow - the diam. Is unusually small for either disc or saucer, however."<4>

A circular banked enclosure, 12m across, is visible as earthworks on aerial photographs on a steep south-west facing slope at the head of the combe to the north of Stancombe Farm. The feature lies at approximately SY 55313 93389. The feature has previously been considered to be a Bronze Age disc or saucer barrow. <5-6>

<1> Grinsell, L V, 1935-54, Dorset Barrows 1935-54 Manuscript (Unpublished document). SWX1556.

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments England, 1952, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume I (West), 137 (Monograph). SDO97.

'(11) Barrow, a saucer barrow in appearance but originally perhaps a disc barrow now much defaces, on the 600ft. Contour nearly 1¾m. N. of the church, has a ring about 45 ft. in diam., a ditch and a mound rising about 14 in. above the bottom of the ditch; the mound is about 32 ft. in diam.'

<3> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F2 NVQ 20-MAY-55 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<4> Field Investigators comments, 10.1.56 (Unpublished document). SDO17889.

R FARRAR. R.C.H.M. (ENG), AO/PF/24 dated 10.1.56

<5> 14-APR-1984, NMR OS/84029 181-2 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11075.

<6> Royal Air Force, 22-JAN-1948, RAF/CPE/UK/2431 4151-2 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11074.

<7> National Record of the Historic Environment, 450975 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Aug 25 2023 12:15PM