Monument record MDO2271 - Bronze Age barrow on The Knoll, Puncknowle

A bowl barrow, one of three barrows situated on the Knoll. In 1952 this monument was reported as 64 feet in diameter with a mound about 4 feet high. It is visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs taken in 1946 and was digitally plotted for the South Dorset Ridgeway Mapping Project.

A bowl barrow; diameter 20 paces height 4ft. <2>

Similar information. <3>

A ditchless bowl barrow, under the plough. The mound has a diameter of 23.0m, and a height of 0.7m. The top is flattened, and a quantity of large stones is exposed. <4>

Bowl barrow 20 paces diameter and 4ft high. It was excavated by E. Greenfield in 1959 for the Ministry of Works. Slightly north west of the centre was a cremation, assumed to be primary, of an adult, sex uncertain, but probably under 30 years of age. It was contained in an upright biconical urn supported by stones and placed in a small oval pit near the centre of a sub-rectangular burnt area which was probably the site of a pyre. Above the interment was a loose cairn revetted by inward-sloping slabs and covered by a mound of soil. Finds in Dorset County Museum, Accn. No. 1962-12.1.

NW of centre primary cremation in upright biconical urn, in a small oval pit. Near centre of sub rectangular burnt area probably site of pyre. Above this was a loose cairn revetted by inward sloping cairn revetted by inward sloping slabs and covered by mound of soil. <5-7>

Full excavation report and discussion on the transitional pottery. The primary burial was situated in the N.W quadrant of the barrow in a pit sealed by a horizontal stone shale surrounded by a square-shaped emplacement of burnt stone, above which was a cairn of loosely packed stone. The cremation urn is unusual in being a biconical/bucket urn suggesting a date of C14th and C13th BC. Fragments of Romano-British pottery reprsenting at least newels were found in two pits to the north and south of the barrow. <8>

Visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs <1> and digitally plotted for the South Dorset Ridgeway Mapping Project.

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1903 (Map). SWX1540.

<2> Grinsell, L V, 1935-54, Dorset Barrows 1935-54 Manuscript (Unpublished document). SWX1556.

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments England, 1952, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume I (West) (Monograph). SDO97.

<4> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 23-APR-55 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<5> Greenfield, E, 1959, Excavation of Three Round Barrows at Puncknowle Dorset (Unpublished document). SWX1641.

<6> 1969, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 26, 63-76 (Serial). SDO16723.

<7> Grinsell, L V, 1982, Dorset Barrows Supplement (Monograph). SWX1703.

<8> Greenfield, E, 1984, Excavation of Three Round Barrows at Puncknowle, 1959. (Article in serial). SWX7336.

<9> Royal Air Force, 04-NOV-1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1824 3310-1 (Aerial Photograph). SDO12156.

<10> National Record of the Historic Environment, 450494 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Jan 16 2025 4:15PM