Monument record MDO2048 - Round barrow, one of the Ridge Hill Group, Portesham

Bronze Age round barrow, a large bowl barrow or possibly a bell barrow, one of two round barrows located here. In 1970 this monument was reported as being around 71 feet in diameter with a mound about 10½ feet high. Visible as a circular earthwork mound on aerial photographs.

Two round barrows:

'A'. Bowl barrow <1> or possibly a bell barrow <3> diameter 71 feet, height 10 ½ feet.

'A' SY 64548669. Bowl barrow; diameter 21.0m height 3.3m. Neither barrow has a visible ditch, nor a berm from present appearance. Both are in arable but not ploughed. Re-surveyed at 1:2500 on M.S.D. <4>

Also visible as a circular earthwork mound on aerial photographs <7-10>, measuring approximately 28 metres in diameter. This site was digitally plotted during the South Dorset Ridgeway Mapping Project.

<1> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 127 (Monograph). SDO132.

<2> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1963 (Map). SWX1540.

('A' - SY 64558668; 'B' SY 64598667) Tumuli (NR)

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 467 (Monograph). SDO150.

'(41) Bell (?) (64578669) 200 yds. E.S.E. of last. Diam. 71 ft., ht. 10½ ft.'

<4> Barton, J G, Various, Field Investigators Comments JGB, F1 JGB 06-MAY-80 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

<5> Papworth, M, 1983, The South Dorset Ridgeway Project: condition and management survey, SDR 378 (Index). SDO12304.

Measurements as above. RCHM does not explain why it considers this barrow a well. There may be the trace of berm on the E side, but it could just be an accumulation of plough soil. Mound damaged by basal ploughing. Barrow grass covered in arable field. 1/3/C

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 Wessex Archaeology, 2011, South Dorset Ridgeway Barrow Survey 2010 (Unpublished document).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

<7> Royal Air Force, 04-NOV-1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1824 3293-5 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11893.

<8> Royal Air Force, 17-1-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1934 1063-5 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11906.

<9> Royal Air Force, 22-1-1948, RAF/CPE/UK/2431 3295-6 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11932.

<10> 26-3-1968, NMR SY6486/1 (178) (Aerial Photograph). SDO11936.

<11> National Record of the Historic Environment, 452430 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Oct 27 2023 9:17AM