Monument record MDO2605 - Bowl barrow on Cross Hill, Sydling St Nicholas

One of a group of three bowl barrows. In 1952 this monument was reported as being around 48 feet in diameter with a mound about 6 feet high. A hollow in the top is probably a consequence of antiquarian investigation. The barrow is visible as a dissected sub-circular earthwork on a 1995 aerial photograph and was digitally plotted during the Dorset Upper Frome AIM project.

A bowl barrow on Cross Hill situated immediately north of enclosure (ST 60 SW 23). It is 48ft in diameter and 6ft high. <1-2>

A grass-covered bowl barrow with a diameter of 18.0m, height of 1.7m, but no traces of a ditch. It has an excavation trench, now 2.0m wide and 1.7m deep, cut across the N radius from which spoil has been cast down the S side of the mound to partly overlie the adjoining lynchet. This has produced an illusion of the barrow post-dating the lynchet. <4>

Manuscript annotation to DHER record card notes: Condition good (6 ft high), evidence of old excavation. Under pasture. Visited 7/6/83 LJK/MS. <5>

The barrow is visible as a dissected sub-circular earthwork on a 1995 aerial photograph <6>. It measures approximately 12.5m in diameter and has a N-S 8m long linear depression down its centre, possibly evidence of former excavation. There also appears to be two small circular hollows within its surface to the east and west of the linear trench, again possibly due to former exploration. The feature was digitally plotted during the Dorset Upper Frome AIM project.
The feature is still visible on Google Earth imagery.

<1> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments England, 1952, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume I (West), 235-236 (Monograph). SDO97.

<2> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 133 (Monograph). SDO132.

<3> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1962 (Map). SWX1540.

(ST 62160164) Tumulus (NR)

<4> Stone, J W, Field Investigators Comments JWS, F1 JWS 04-OCT-76 (Unpublished document). SDO11902.

<5> DCC SMR, to 2003, Former DCC SMR Card Index (Index). SWX8285.

<6> Ordnance Survey, 13-MAR-95, OS 95033 V 074 (Aerial Photograph). SDO17059.

<7> National Record of the Historic Environment, 199198 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Nov 2 2024 8:27AM