Monument record MDO1894 - Bowl barrow on Little Piddle Down, Piddlehinton

A Bronze Age bowl barrow. In 1970 this monument was recorded as being around 54 feet in diameter with a mound about a foot high. A cremation burial was exposed by ploughing in 1988. An excavation in 1989 revealed a burial cist. The site of this barrow is visible as a soilmark ring ditch on aerial photographs taken in 1976. Traces of an internal low mound are identifiable on lidar imagery. The barrow was digitally recorded during the Dorset Upper Cerne and Piddle AIM Project.

(15) - SY 69509571. Bowl barrow, much ploughed, 54ft diameter and 1ft high on Little Piddle Down near the top of a ridge.

In 1881 Edward Cunnington opened three barrows at Little Piddle (Cunnington MS Nos 43-45).

No 43, either (16) or (17), contained a primary cremation under a central cairn and seven secondary cremations, five with urns (four 'bucket' and one globular) and two without urns (a) (b) No.44, either (15) or (16), covered a primary cremation under a cairn. No.45 was probably the barrow (18) at SY 70389582. <1>

SY 695957, SY 698955. Two round barrows west of Little Piddle Down. Scheduled. <3>

Barrow 'A' at SY 69509571, is no longer discernible. The bowl barrows, at SY 69549567 and SY 69819550 are grass covered and measure 23.4m and 22.0m in diameter and 1.4m and 1.2m high respectively.(See GPs). Revised at 1:2500 on MSD. <4>

The site of this barrow is visible as a soilmark ring ditch on aerial photographs taken in 1976. Traces of an internal low mound are identifiable on lidar imagery. The barrow was digitally recorded during the Dorset Upper Cerne and Piddle AIM Project. <8-9>

<1> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 2, 212 (Monograph). SDO136.

Of the nine round barrows in the parish, five (15–19) are in the S.W. and the others are scattered along the E. boundary. In 1881 Edward Cunnington opened three barrows at Little Piddle (Cunnington MS. Nos. 43–45). No. 43, either (16) or (17), contained a primary cremation under a central cairn and seven secondary cremations, five with urns (four 'bucket' and one globular) and two without urns (Ant.J. XIII (1933), 446; Arch.J. CXIX (1962), 58). No. 44, either (15) or (16), covered a primary cremation under a cairn. No. 45, probably (18), yielded from a central flint cairn five urns (four 'bucket' and one globular) containing cremations; two of the urns were upright and were covered with stone slabs, the others were inverted (Arch.J. CXIX (1962), 57). An unidentified barrow opened by C. Hall on Piddlehinton Down contained an urn beneath a flint cairn (C.T.D., Pt. 3, No. 96; Barrow Diggers, 92 and Pl. 9, fig. 4). Two urns 'of an almost globular shape' were recovered from a barrow disturbed by the construction of a road on Piddlehinton Down (Hutchins II, 807). The nine barrows are as follows: (15) Bowl (69509571), on Little Piddle Down near the top of a ridge. Much ploughed. Diam. 54 ft., ht. 1 ft.’

<2> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey 1:10,000 scale map, 1975 (Map). SDO17396.

('A' - SY 69509571; 'B' - SY 69549567) Tumuli (NR)

<3> Department of the Environment, 1977, Department of the Environment (IAM) Ancient Monuments of England Vol 2, 68 (Monograph). SWX2300.

<4> Attrill, N J, Field Investigators Comments NJA, F1 NJA 19-DEC-80 (Unpublished document). SDO14743.

<5> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1989, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1988, 143 (Serial). SDO88.

‘Piddlehinton. SY 69509571. RCHM 15. MBA pottery exposed by ploughing. A salvage excavation uncovered a burial cist 0.6 m dia. and cut 0.4 m into chalk. The urn was broken and mixed with a charcoal layer which lay above a layer of cremated bone mixed with sand but without charcoal. Below the cremation, the walls of the cist were lined with a thin layer of charcoal. Finds in Dorset County Museum.‘

<6> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1991, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1990, 129-131 (Serial). SDO90.

<7> National Record of the Historic Environment, 452988 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

<8> National Monuments Record, 08-APR-1976, NMR 915/34-5 (Aerial Photograph). SDO21095.

<9> Environment Agency, 15-DEC-2023, LIDAR Environment Agency DTM (Aerial Photograph). SDO20691.

Record last edited

Nov 11 2024 7:13PM