Monument record MDO2040 - Hell Stone, Neolithic chambered long barrow

Heavily restored and damaged Neolithic chambered long barrow on Portesham Hill, recorded by the RCHM as a long mound with a reconstructed stone chamber exposed at the south east end.

Long barrow generally as described by RCHM <4>. Length 38.0m., maximum width 17.0m., height 1.4m. Very mutilated. No visible ditch. Re-surveyed at 1:2500 on M.S.D. <5>

The Hell Stone lies at SY 6058 8670, in a similar location to the Grey Mare and Her Colts, at the head of a dry valley system which runs south and southwest via Hell Bottom to the southern edge of the Ridgeway at Corton Hill. The Hell Stone comprises a rectangular mound, orientated NW-SE and 24m long. The mound tapers in width from the southeast end (12m) to the northwest end (8m) and is 1m high. An arrangement of upright sarsens with a massive capstone sits on the southeast end of the mound. This was an attempt at restoration in 1866 when eight gentlemen fabricated something more akin to a portal dolmen than to the façade of a chambered long barrow (C Warne, Ancient Dorset 1872, ii). A drystone field wall runs across the mound and a pond for watering stock was dug close to the southeast end of the mound very recently. <7>

The site was surveyed using EDM at a scale of 1: 200 as part of a survey of the long barrows on the South Dorset Ridgeway carried out by English Heritage and the Ridgeway Survey Group. <8>

The chambered tomb is also visible as an extant stone structure on aerial photographs <10-11>. As mentioned in the RCHM description of this site <4>, an elongated curvilinear earthwork running nw to se is visible on a 1946 aerial photograph and is thought to be part of the long barrow mound associated with the chambered tomb. It appears to have consequently become incorporated into a later prehistorc field system. These features were digitally plotted during the South Dorset Ridgeway Mapping Project.

<1> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1908, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club for 1908, lxxv-lxxviii (Serial). SDO19.

<2> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 22-MAR-55 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<3> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1963 (Map). SWX1540.

(SY 60588670) Hell Stone (NAT) Long Barrow (NR)

<4> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 432 (Monograph). SDO150.

‘(33) The Hell Stone, Neolithic chambered long barrow (SY 68 NW; 60588670; Plate 208), is situated on Portesham Hill, over 600 ft. above O.D., on the summit of the S.-facing limestone escarpment which here forms a flat-topped ridge running N.W.-S.E.; the ground falls steeply on the S.W. to a re-entrant and less steeply on the N.E. to a dry valley. The long mound is aligned along the ridge (130°), with a reconstructed stone chamber exposed at the S.E. end.
The much-damaged mound is at least 88 ft. long and up to 40 ft. wide, tapering slightly to N.W.; it is of rounded crossprofile and rises to a maximum height of 5 ft. near the chamber, but further S.E. it is much disturbed and at most 2 ft. high. The chamber, incorrectly rebuilt in 1866, now consists of nine orthostats, up to 5¾ ft. high and from 1¼ ft. to 1¾ ft. thick, supporting a roughly oval capstone, 10 ft. by 8 ft. and averaging just over 2 ft. thick. Smaller stones embedded in the mound in front of the chamber may represent a former peristalith, probably not continuous. The stones are sarsen of Bagshot age, a hard Tertiary conglomerate containing flint gravel. A drawing of 1790 by S. H. Grimm (B.M. Add. MS. 15538; reproduced on Plate 208) shows the capstone supported by one or two orthostats and tilting to the S., with another orthostat to the N. and recumbent stones to S. and S.W.; Hutchins, who published a similar illustration (II, facing 759), states that the arrangement of the stones was partly due to shepherds who used the chamber as a shelter (1st edn. (1774), I, 554). Nevertheless the stones clearly represent an original chamber, and the Hell Stone is comparable to the 'Grey Mare and her Colts', less than 1½ miles to the W. on the same ridge (S. Piggott, Dorset Procs. LXVII (1945), 30–3; Dorset I, Long Bredy (15)).
The barrow is now crossed by a stone wall running N.-S., to E. of which it has been disturbed by digging. Ploughing has encroached on the mound, and air photographs (CPE/UK 1824, 3291) suggest that it was used as a 'Celtic' field boundary (see Ancient Field Group (5)).
(C. Warne, Ancient Dorset (1872), 135 and Pl. XXIII; Dorset Procs. XXIX (1908), lxxv-lxxviii.)’

<4.1> Warne, C, 1872, Ancient Dorset (2nd Edition) (Monograph). SWX1971.

<4.2> Shipp, W, and Hodson, J W (eds), 1863, The History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset. 3rd edition. Volume 2, 759 (Monograph). SWX1269.

<5> Barton, J G, Various, Field Investigators Comments JGB, F2 JGB 28-MAR-80 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

<6> Papworth, M, 1983, The South Dorset Ridgeway Project: condition and management survey, SDR 182 (Index). SDO12304.

The whole mound is in a mutilated state, but the reconstructed stone chamber is intact. Both fields in ley pasture. 1/5/D

<7> Riley, H, Field Investigators Comments: Hazel Riley, June 2006 (Unpublished document). SDO17469.

<8> Riley, H, 2008, Long Barrows on the South Dorset Ridgeway. A Survey by English Heritage and the Ridgeway Survey Group (Unpublished document). SDO15192.

<9> Wessex Archaeology, 2011, South Dorset Ridgeway Barrow Survey 2010 (Unpublished document). SDO12407.

<10> Royal Air Force, 04-NOV-1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1824 3299-3300 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11849.

<11> 06-12-2006, NMR SY6086/9-13 (24499/16) (Aerial Photograph). SDO11901.

<12> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/093 RCHME Inventory: Dorset II (South-East) (Unpublished document). SDO17434.

<13> Historic England, Historic England Archive, AA72/01780 (Index). SDO14738.

VIEW FROM SOUTH-WEST SHOWING THE CHAMBER (RECONSTRUCTED INCORRECTLY IN 1866)

<14> Historic England, Historic England Archive, AA72/01781 (Index). SDO14738.

VIEW FROM NORTH-EAST SHOWING INCORRECTLY RECONSTRUCTED CHAMBER

<15> Historic England, Historic England Archive, AA72/01782 (Index). SDO14738.

VIEW FROM EAST SHOWING CHAMBER

<16> Historic England, Historic England Archive, AO55/89/3 (Index). SDO14738.

VIEW FROM NORTH SHOWING RESTORED CHAMBER

<17> Historic England, Historic England Archive, BB86/05017 (Index). SDO14738.

VIEW OF BURIAL CHAMBER RECONSTUCTED INCORRECTLY IN 1866. Donor: UNKNOWNCopyright: UNKNOWN

<18> Historic England, Historic England Archive, CC72/01478 (Index). SDO14738.

DRAWING BY S.H.GRIMM, 1790. PRIOR TO RECONSTRUCTION

<19> Historic England, Historic England Archive, OS55/F89/3 (Index). SDO14738.

HELL STONE AT PORTESHAM,RESTORED CHAMBER FROM THE NORTH

<20> Historic England, Historic England Archive, OS55/F89/4 (Index). SDO14738.

HELL STONE AT PORTESHAM,CHAMBER AND MOUND FROM THE SOUTH EAST

<21> English Heritage, Historic England Archive AF00268 Long Barrows on the South Dorset Ridgeway, Dorset, AF00268 (Excavation archive). SDO19846.

<22> National Record of the Historic Environment, 452288 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Oct 29 2024 1:24PM