Monument record MDO247 - Bowl barrow, one of the Ridge Hill Group, Bincombe

Bronze Age bowl barrow, part of an extensive barrow cemetery running along the ridgeway. In 1970 this monument was recorded as being around 40 feet in diameter with a ditch about 10 feet wide, and ploughed almost flat. It was excavated in August 1884 by antiquarian Edward Cunnington, who found a cremation burial covered by small slabs. Visible as a cropmark ring ditch on aerial photographs. The site was digitally plotted during the South Dorset Ridgeway Mapping Project.

Grinsell recorded this barrow as 14 paces in diameter and ½ a foot in height. Primary cremation, covered by small slabs. <2>

Round barrows on Ridgeway Hill: 'B'. Ditched bowl (66388662) 33 yds. N.N.E of 'A'. Diam. about 40 ft., with ditch about 10 ft. wide, visible on V.A.P. CPE/UK 1934, 1061. Ploughed almost flat. Probably contained primary (?) cremation covered by stone slabs. <4>

B SY 66398662. Bowl barrow, diameter 11.0m, height 0.1m. All these barrows are in arable and have been ploughed. None has a visible ditch. Re-surveyed at 1:2500 on MSD. <5>

Visible as a cropmark ring ditch on aerial photographs <8>. The site was digitally plotted during the South Dorset Ridgeway Mapping Project.

<1> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1916, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club for 1916, 44 (Serial). SDO25.

<2> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 92 (Monograph). SDO132.

‘On arable. Cunnington Ms. 31 (Ridgeway 3): primary(?) cremation covered by small slabs. Dorset Proc xxxvii, 44.’

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

(Centred SY 665865) 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, 468 (Monograph). SDO150.

‘(14) Ditched bowl (66388662) 33 yds. N.N.E. of (13). Diam. about 40 ft., with ditch about 10 ft. wide, visible on V.A.P. CPE/UK 1934: 1061. Ploughed almost flat. Probably contained primary (?) cremation covered by stone slabs.’

<5> Barton, J G, Various, Field Investigators Comments JGB, F1 JGB 21-MAY-80 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

<6> Papworth, M, 1983, The South Dorset Ridgeway Project: condition and management survey, SDR 399 (Index). SDO12304.

Diameter 11.0m, ht. 0.1m. Almost ploughed flat. Faint swelling. 7/6/E

<7> Wessex Archaeology, 2011, South Dorset Ridgeway Barrow Survey 2010 (Unpublished document). SDO12407.

<8> 26-MAR-1968, NMR SY6586/1 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11843.

<9> National Record of the Historic Environment, 452011 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Jan 15 2024 3:07PM