Monument record MDO2059 - Bowl barrow, Friar Waddon, Portesham

One of two adjacent Bronze Age barrows on the crest of Friar Waddon Hill, noted by field investigators as an extant earthwork and also visible as a low earthwork on aerial photos.

One of two adjacent Bronze Age barrows (MDO2059 & MDO24592) recorded as a double bowl barrow with mounds 35 feet and 32 feet in diameter, by 3 1/2 feet and 3 feet high; joined by a slight bank. The top of the south east mound is flattened, probably by excavation. (PDNHAS 1916; RCHME 1970)

'B'. Bowl barrow thirteen paces diameter by 3 feet high. 'C'. Bowl barrow thirteen paces diameter by 3 feet high. 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). (Grinsell 1959)

'B'. SY 64048550 and 'C' - SY 64058550. Twin bowl barrows joined by a slight rise. Each is 12.0m. In diameter; 'B' is 1.0m. High and 'C' is 0.7m. High. There is no visible ditch around either. 'A' surveyed, and 'B' and 'C' re-surveyed at 1:2500 on M.S.D. (Barton 1980)

Also visible as a low earthwork on aerial photographs (Royal Air Force 1947) measuring approximately 9 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Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/093 RCHME Inventory: Dorset II (South-East) (Unpublished document).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.

Historic England, National Record of the Historic Environment, 452487 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Barton, J G, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigator's Comments JGB, F1 JGB 11-APR-80 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1963 (Map). SWX1540.

('B' - SY 64038550; 'C' - SY 64078549) Tumuli (NR)

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

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

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

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.

‘(51) Double bowl (SY 68 NW; 64068550) 56 yds. S.E. of (50). Diams. of mounds 35 ft. and 32 ft., hts. 3½ ft. and 3 ft.; joined by slight bank. Top of S.E. mound flattened, probably by excavation.’

Papworth, M, 1983, The South Dorset Ridgeway Project: condition and management survey, SDR 306 (Index). SDO12304.

Measurements as above. There is no visible ditch around either. Situated in a field of permanent pasture. 1/2/C

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

Record last edited

Sep 10 2026 3:14PM