Monument record MDO24592 - Bowl barrow on Friar Waddon Hill, Portesham

One of two adjacent Bronze Age barrows on the crest of Friar Waddon Hill, noted by field investigators in 1980 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. <1> <4>

'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). <2>

'B' and 'C'. SY 64068550. 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. <4>

'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. <5>

Also visible as a low earthwork on aerial photographs <7> 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Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/093 RCHME Inventory: Dorset II (South-East) (Unpublished document).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.

<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> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 127 (Monograph). SDO132.

<3> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1963 (Map). SWX1540.

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

<4> 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.

<5> Barton, J G, Various, Field Investigators Comments JGB, F1 JGB 11-APR-80 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

<6> 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

<7> Royal Air Force, 17-1-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1934 1063-5 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11906.

<8> National Record of the Historic Environment, 452487 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Dec 7 2024 7:29AM