Monument record MDO2058 - Barrow on Friar Waddon Hill, Portesham

A Bronze Age Bowl barrow on the crest of Friar Waddon Hill, noted by field investigators as an extant earthwork and also visible as a low earthwork on aerial photographs.

A Bronze Age Bowl barrow on the crest of Friar Waddon Hill. <1-2>

One of a group of three barrows (MDO2058-9 & MDO24592) located on Friar Whadden Hill. A food vessel 5 1/2 inches high, now in the Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, may have come from one of these barrows, or those located further to the east (MDO60-3 & MDO2084-5). <3>

'A'. SY 64008554. Bowl barrow, diameter 8.0m., height 0.5m., no visible ditch. Unlike all the other barrows on this ridge, which are on the top, it lies on a north-facing slope about 40 metres below ridge-top. <4>

Also visible as a low earthwork on aerial photographs <5-6> measuring approximately 10 metres in diameter. This site was digitally plotted during the South Dorset Ridgeway Mapping Project.

Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/093 RCHME Inventory: Dorset II (South-East) (Unpublished document).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

<1> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1916, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club for 1916, 40-47 (Serial). SDO25.

<2> 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.

‘(50) Bowl (?) (SY 68 NW; 64028554) on crest of Friar Waddon Hill. Diam. 20 ft., ht. 1¼ ft.'

<3> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows (Monograph). SDO132.

<4> Barton, J G, Various, Field Investigators Comments JGB, F1 JGB 11-APR-80 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

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

<6> 15-2-2005, NMR SY6485/7 (23796/4) (Aerial Photograph). SDO11931.

<7> Papworth, M, 1983, The South Dorset Ridgeway Project: condition and management survey (Index). SDO12304.

Unlike all the other barrows on top of this ridge, which are on the top, this one lies on a N-facing slope about 40m below ridge top. Permanent pasture.

<8> Wessex Archaeology, 2011, South Dorset Ridgeway Barrow Survey 2010 (Unpublished document). SDO12407.

<9> National Record of the Historic Environment, 452487 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Dec 7 2024 7:29AM