Monument record MDO186 - Bowl barrow at Wellwood Farm, Beaminster

Bronze Age bowl barrow. This barrow was opened in 1912 by Mr J E Batchelor and Mr E A Rawlence. They found it to be 34 feet in diameter with a ring of flints, interpreted as a retaining wall. Below this was a cremation burial contained within a barrel-shaped urn, thought to be of Late Bronze Age date. Bones found in the urn were said to be those of a child.

(ST 47890356) Urn and burnt bones found AD 1912 (NAT) (1)

A tumulus (marked 'A' on plan at ST 47740351) near the western hedge of a field on Wellwood Farm, opened on 28th May 1912, measured 34 feet in diameter and contained a central cairn beneath
which at ground level was a pit containing burnt earth and ashes. There was no trace of pottery or bone.

On 5th June, 1912, during the removal of the cairn, a barrel shaped urn decorated with coarse lines and containing bone and ashes, was found deposited in a small pit.

A similar low mound near the south edge of the field revealed no sign of ground activity, nor any evidence of antiquity. (2)

The information above was confirmed by Mr. Payne (a). Mr. Rawlence (b) said the site consisted of a circular ditch full of flints which were dug out by the farmer.

See copy of plan from O.N.B. (3)

Mr. H. Payne (a) confirmed that the excavated mound was situated approximately at 'A' and said that the siting symbol (1) fell in an area marked out for a gravel pit. Mr. Batchelor and
Mr. Rawlence were steward and agent respectively for Col. Digby of Sherborne who owned the land. The pottery was given to Col. Digby and the substance of the mound was used for road building.

No traces of a barrow could be found at 'A', nor at the published siting symbol.

A probable bowl barrow, situated at 'B' (ST 47780348), is 25.0 metres in diameter by 0.3metre high. It is much spread and there is no sign of a ditch.

At 'C' (ST 47860341) is an irregular mound, probably not a barrow. It is 28.0 metres east-west by 17.0 metres north-south, with a height of about 0.2metres. (4)

Information as above. The extracts from J. E. Batchelor's notebook were given to Dorset County Museum by C.E. Bean in 1938.

This was clearly a Late Bronze Age cremation in a Deverel-Rimbury barrel-urn, probably subsidiary or secondary to the principal interment. The bones were those of a child. Also found was a 'greenstone phallus' about 4 1/2 inches long, said to be in Colonel Digby's museum. (5)

'A'. Site of barrow. Information as above.

'B'. Probable bowl barrow 27 paces in diameter by 1 foot high. (6)

Barrow 'A' incorrectly sited by previous authority. Correct siting given on ST 47770352. Diameter 34 feet, with a 3 foot wide retaining wall of flint. (7)

<1> Bean, C E, 1912, Ms in Dorset County Museum from Notebook of J E Batchelor steward to Col Digby landowner May/June 1912 (Unpublished document). SDO17910.

<2> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Object Name Book (ONB) reference, Rev ONB 1928 21 & plan (Monograph). SWX8217.

<3> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1930 (Map). SWX1540.

(ST 47890356) Urn and burnt bones found AD 1912 (NAT)

<4> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1956, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1955, 136-137 (Serial). SDO55.

‘Barrows opened in 1912 at Wellwood Farm, Beaminster. In 1938 Mr. C. E. Bean gave to the Museum a copy of extracts from a notebook belonging to Mr. J. E. Batchelor referring to the opening of two barrows on Buckham Down, south of Wellwood Farm, by Mr. Batchelor and the late Mr. E. A Rawlence, who were respectively steward and estate agent for Colonel Digby. These extracts are filed in the Museum Library, but the principal facts are worthy of publication, with such additional light as can now be thrown upon them.
Mr. Batchelor’s notes describe the opening of a barrow “nearest the Western hedge of the field” on 28th May and 5th June 1912. It was 34 feet in diameter, with a “ring of large flints, not far under the surface, about a yard wide”, which was evidently the remains of a retaining wall. An excavation in the centre down to “the lower clay”, through 6 ins. of flint and gravel, a layer of gravelly soil containing burnt earth and ashes, 9 ins. thick in places, and finally a layer of red clay with stones, revealed no other signs of interment, but suggests incineration on the site of the barrow. Removal of the flint wall for use on a farm road, however, resulted in the discovery, in a small hole dug to contain it in the clay below the wall, of a large vessel “rather like a barrel in shape, 7½ ins. diameter at the bottom, and 9 ins. at the swell” and originally about 12 ins. tall, with no cover. It was between ¼ and ⅜ in. thick, black inside and lighter outside, with “some coarse lines on the outside”. It contained a quantity of burnt bones and ashes, which were collected; the urn partly fell to pieces on removal. The bones, it seems, were those of a child, as will appear below.
Also found was a “small sandstone about 4½ ins. by 2 ins., partly shaped, having some resemblance to a head at one end”. This was presumably a ‘greenstone’ phallus, mentioned by Mr. Bean in 1938 in his covering letter, which according to him was in Col. Digby’s museum unlabelled.
It is quite clear that we are dealing with a Late Bronze Age cremation in a Deverel-Rimbury barrel-urn. From its position it was presumably not the principal interment. It may have been subsidiary to such a burial, or on the other hand it may have been a secondary burial. If the latter was the case one would have to suppose that the ring wall itself was an addition to the mound, since it apparently sealed the urn-hole. It is hardly likely that such an existing wall would have been taken down temporarily to allow such a hole to be dug.
… Many of these details were independently recorded by the Ordnance Survey in the person of O. G. S. Crawford in 1927-8, and have been added to by present investigators of the O.S. Archaeology Division in 1955. I am grateful for the opportunity of studying their index cards for this site. These include a very small plan and section (scale 2 in. to 32 ft.) of the first mound, dated 29th May 1912, which shows the position of the urn as S.S.E. of the centre of the barrow, and a note on it specifies that the bones were those of a child. The cards also record the results of the Survey’s fieldwork in 1955, when the area was under grass. No trace of the first mound could be seen either at the position recorded on the O.S. 6-in. map, or at that now regarded as correct.’

<5> Rigg, J, Field Investigators Comments JR, F1 JR 20-MAY-55 (Unpublished document). SWX1255.

<6> E A Rawlence, E A Rawlence, estate agent Salisbury (Verbal communication). SDO17906.

<7> H PAYNE, H Payne, Wellwood Farm Beaminster (Verbal communication). SDO17905.

<8> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 87 (Monograph). SDO132.

<9> Historic England, Historic England Archive, 192969 (Index). SDO14738.

Record last edited

Mar 29 2022 10:11AM