Monument record MDO1511 - Bowl Barrow, Long Bredy

A bowl barrow, one of four barrows in the area. In 1952 the barrow was described as being around 62 feet in diameter with a mound about 10 feet high. The barrow was excavated and removed by road construction.

Excavated, in central pit, unburnt remains of 6 individuals both primary and secondary, without grave goods, beneath cairn, enclosed in a chalk mound, the central mound was defined by an irregular ditch with 3 causeways in South West, there were 2 outer concentric ditches, the outermost, not strictly concentric with the others, suggesting that the barrow had been successfully enlarged. <2>

The site of a bowl barrow, excavated in 1964 in advance of widening and re-alignment of the A35. The barrow was extant as an earthwork prior to excavation, but had been disturbed on previous occasions, most notably by the digging of a central shaft down through the mound to the original ground surface, presumably representing an antiquarian excavation. A toll house had also impinged on the mound between the mid-18th and later 19th centuries, traces being found during the 1964 excavations. Prior to excavation, the barrow appeared as a mound circa 35 feet in diameter and 6 feet high. Excavation showed it to comprise an inner flint cairn 3 feet high and 19 feet by 14 feet in width, covered by chalk. The disturbed remains of at least 6 individuals were found near the base of the shaft dug through the mound, although it is possible that one group may represent an in situ crouched inhumation. The sole artefact from within the mound was a flint end scraper from the flint cairn. The mound was surrounded by an irregular causewayed ring ditch circa 42 feet in external diameter. Beyond this was a second partial ditch, concentric to the first, but visible for much of its diameter as a scarp rather than a ditch. Outside this was another concentric ditch circa 70 feet in external diameter, followed by a fourth some 90 feet in diameter (but note the published site plan in particular suggests that the relationship between the ditches was not quite as straightforward as this description suggests). A sherd of Bronze Age bucket urn, presumably Deverel-Rimbury (?), came from the base of the inner ditch. The outer ditch contained further Bronze Age sherds plus some of Late Iron Age date (described as "Durotrigian"). Animal remains, principally red deer and ox, were also found but the excavation report gives no indication of their context. The barrow is assumed to be of Early Bronze Age origin. [Note source 5 contains some photographs taken during the excavations]. <1-5>

<1> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments England, 1952, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume I (West), 42 (Monograph). SDO97.

‘(9) BARROWS, N. of the road-junction on Martin’s Down about ½ m. N. of the church, are four in number. (a) bowl barrow, 60 yards E. of the road-junction, is 62 ft. in diam. and 10 ft. high. (b) probably a bell barrow, 100 yards W.N.W. of (a), is 90 ft. in diam. and 6 to 9 ft. high; the middle has been disturbed; there are traces of a ditch. (c) probably a bell barrow, 45 yards N.W. of (b), is 75 ft. in diam. and 5 ft. high; it has a ditch. (d) perhaps a bowl barrow, 260 yards W.N.W. of (c), is approximately 40 ft. in diam. and 3½ ft. high; it has been ploughed.’

<2> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 117 (Monograph). SDO132.

<3> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1974, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1973, 101 (Serial). SDO73.

<4> Eogan, G, 1978, The Excavation of a Round Barrow at Long Bredy, Dorset; Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 43-53 (Article in serial). SDO12562.

<5> Bailey, C J, 1982, The Bride Valley : the story of the past, with photographs of the present (Monograph). SWX1298.

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

<7> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1265529 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Dec 17 2023 9:10AM