Monument record MDO2060 - Barrow on Friar Waddon Hill, Portesham

A Bronze Age Bowl barrow on the crest of Friar Waddon Hill. One of several bowl barrows situated along the crest at the east end of Friar Waddon 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 west. Noted by field investigators as an extant earthwork and also visible as a low earthwork on aerial photographs.

Group of four bowl barrows along the crest at the east end of Friar Waddon hill, one above 400 ft, the others on east slope. 'A' (64488546). Irregular in plan, 29 ft, by 23ft and 2 1/2ft high. A food vessel 5 1/2 inches high, now in the Cambridge Museum of Archeology and Ethnology, may have come from one of these barrows or those to the west (MDO2059 & MDO24592). (Grinsell 1959; RCHME 1970)

'A'. SY 64478545. A crescent-shaped mound 10.0m. By 7.0m., and 0.7m. High. Probably the remains of a severely mutilated barrow. A, B, C and D re-surveyed, and 'E' and 'F' surveyed at 1:2500 on M.S.D. (Barton 1980)

Also visible as a circular earthwork mound on aerial photographs (Royal Air Force 1947 and 1948), measuring approximately 8 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Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/093 RCHME Inventory: Dorset II (South-East) (Unpublished document).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, 452490 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Barton, J G, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigator's Comments JGB, F1 JGB 11-APR-80 (Unpublished document).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

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

Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 127 (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.

‘(52) (64488546). Irregular in plan, 29 ft. by 23 ft., and 2½ ft. high.’

Papworth, M, 1983, The South Dorset Ridgeway Project: condition and management survey, SDR 310 (Index). SDO12304.

Dimensions as above. Severely mutilated. Situated in permanent pasture. 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Wessex Archaeology, 2011, South Dorset Ridgeway Barrow Survey 2010 (Unpublished document).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.

Record last edited

Sep 10 2026 3:15PM