Monument record MDO2051 - Bowl barrow near Friar Waddon, Portesham

Bronze Age bowl barrow. In 1970 this monument was reported as being about 70 feet in diameter with a mound around 8½ feet high. The barrow was excavated in 1885 by Cunnington, who found a cist burial and the burial of a child. Later burials inserted into the mound were a cremation in a large urn with a smaller vessel, and the remains of two extended burials. Near the top of the mound was a child burial of probable Roman date. Finds from Cunnington’s excavations are in the Dorset County Museum. Visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs

"Near top of the mound was child inhumation in a grave partly consisting of a Roman roof slab, associated wtih a Romano-British sherd. Part of a saddle quern was in the body of mound". (Cunnington 1915; PDNHAS 1916)

A bowl barrow, 28 paces in diameter and 6 ft high. Excavated and numbered Ridgeway No 8 by E Cunnington. Primary crouched but rather decomposed interment with remains of child; secondary cremation in large LBA urn with three applied fingertip decorated bands below the rim, with accessory vessel; three feet higher up; two extended skeletons arranged head to feet, each with a pot at its head; intrusive child's skeleton (Romano-British) in grave composed partly of a Roman roof-slab with Roman potsherds just above. In the material of the mound was part of a saddle quern. (Grinsell 1935-54; RCHME 1970)

A ditchless, grass covered bowl barrow 24.0m North-South and 22.5m East-West with a height of 2.3m in the East. Its flat top appears to result from excavations the spoil of which may have been thrown down to the south thus enlongating the barrow. (Rigg 1945)

SY 64578646. Bowl barrow in arable, but not ploughed over although the perimeter has been cut into by ploughing. Diameter 23.0m., height (maximum) 4.5m. No visible ditch. Re-surveyed at 1:2500 on M.S.D. (Barton 1980)

Also visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs (Royal Air Force 1946, 1947 and 1948; NMR 1968), measuring approximately 23 metres in diameter. This site was digitally plotted during the South Dorset Ridgeway Mapping Project.

Historic England, National Record of the Historic Environment, 452493 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Barton, J G, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigator's Comments JGB, F2 JGB 07-MAY-80 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

Rigg, J, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigator's Comments JR, F1 JR 30-JUL-54 (Unpublished document). SWX1255.

Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1927-38 (Map). SWX1540.

(SY 6457 8646) Tumulus (OE)

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

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

Cunnington, E, 1915, Cunnington MSS (Unpublished document). SDO10110.

Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1916, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club for 1916, 45 (Serial). SDO25.

Grinsell, L V, 1935-54, Dorset Barrows 1935-54 Manuscript (Unpublished document). SWX1556.

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

‘(43) Bowl (SY 68 NW; 64578646), the only barrow down the slope S. from the Ridgeway. Diam. 70 ft., ht. 8½ ft. Cunnington in 1885 found primary contracted inhumation in cist, and remains of a child inhumation, surrounded by large stones. Above was cremation in large urn with smaller vessel (in D.C.M.); 3 ft. higher, 6 ft. below the top of the mound, lay two extended inhumations, each with a vessel at its head (one in D.C.M.). Near top of the mound was child inhumation in a grave partly consisting of a Roman roof slab, associated with a Romano-British sherd. Part of a saddle quern was in the body of mound. (Dorset Procs. XVI (1895), 177 and XXXVII (1916), 45; Ant. J. XIII (1933), 446.)’

Papworth, M, 1983, The South Dorset Ridgeway Project: condition and management survey, SDR352 (Index). SDO12304.

‘Ditchless, grass-covered bowl barrow 24.0m N-S and 22m E-W. No visible ditch. Mutilated by basal ploughing and rabbit and badger burrows. 1/4/C.’

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

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

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

Record last edited

Sep 10 2026 3:08PM