Monument record MDO2056 - Bowl barrow east of Portesham Farm, Portesham

Site of a possible Bronze Age oval bowl barrow. Recorded by the RCHM as an extant elongated mound and also visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs.

SY 61688604. Elongated mound measuring 18.0m. By 8.0m. With height of 1.0m. No visible ditch. In pasture. <1> <3>

Re-surveyed at 1:2500 on MSD. <4>

Site of a possible Bronze Age bowl barrow situated on the crest of narrow ridge. Described by the Ordnance Survey in 1963 as oval, 52 feet by 21 feet by 4 feet high, apparently cut back by cultivation

Also visible as an earthwork oval mound on aerial photographs <6>, measuring approximately 13 x 5.5 metres. 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 6 inches to 1 mile, 1963 (Map). SDO11924.

(SY 61688603) Tumulus (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, 450 (Monograph). SDO150.

'(48) Bowl (?) (SY 68 NW; 61688603) on crest of narrow ridge above 500 ft. Oval, 52 ft. by 21 ft., and 4 ft. high, apparently cut back by strip cultivation (see Portesham (32e), p. 246).'

<4> Barton, J G, Various, Field Investigators Comments JGB, F1 JGB 28-MAR-80 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

<5> Papworth, M, 1983, The South Dorset Ridgeway Project: condition and management survey, SDR 221 (Index). SDO12304.

Mound elongated and reduced to 1m high with no apparent ditch. Trackway for animals crosses the barrow E-W, 4m from the N end. In permanent pasture.

<5> Wessex Archaeology, 2011, South Dorset Ridgeway Barrow Survey 2010 (Unpublished document). SDO12407.

<6> 12-5-2002, PGA SY6186 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11923.

<7> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/093 RCHME Inventory: Dorset II (South-East) (Unpublished document). SDO17434.

<8> National Record of the Historic Environment, 452424 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Sep 11 2024 4:14PM