Monument record MDO1695 - Bowl barrow, Melcombe Horsey

A bowl barrow reported as being around 54 feet in diameter with a mound about one foot high, and very heavily ploughed. The site of the plough-levelled round barrow is visible as low earthworks on lidar imagery and was digitally recorded during the Mid Dorset Downs AIM project.

ST 75100175. Bowl barrow on the brow of Highdon Hill and facing north east at 625 ft. above OD., has been almost obliterated by ploughing. Diameter 54 ft, height 1 ft. (RCHME 1970)

ST 75100174. A bowl barrow, diameter 17.0m. height 0.2m. on uphill side, 0.4m. on downhill side. There is no visible ditch. The tumulus remains under plough. Surveyed at 1:2500 On M.S.D. (Stone 1978)

The site of the plough-levelled round barrow is visible as low earthworks on lidar imagery (Environment Agency 2023) and was digitally recorded during the Mid Dorset Downs AIM project.

Historic England, National Record of the Historic Environment, 201895 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Stone, J W, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigator's Comments JWS, F1 JWS 12-DEC-78 (Unpublished document). SDO11902.

Environment Agency, 15-DEC-2023, LIDAR Environment Agency DTM (Aerial Photograph). SDO20691.

Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 2, 175 (Monograph). SDO136.

(19) Bowl (75100175), on the brow of Highton Hill and facing N.E. at 625 ft. above O.D., has been almost obliterated by ploughing. Diam. 54 ft., ht. 1 ft.

Cornwall Archaeological Unit, Cornwall Council, 2026, 2026 AIM Mid Dorset Downs HE9550 (Machine readable data file). SDO21762.

Record last edited

Jun 4 2026 12:18PM