Monument record MDO2658 - Bowl barrow on Thorncombe Beacon, Symondsbury

Two bowl barrows each 24 paces in diameter by 4ft high. <2>

75ft. in diam and 4ft. high. <3>

Two turf covered bowl barrows situated on high ground averaging 32.0m. Diam. And 1.8m. High, and bearing no visible traces of surrounding ditches or excavations.

The E-W slopes of 'B' merge with the steep natural slopes making precise measurements in this direction doubtful. <4>

Group of three round barrows NE of Thorncombe Beacon, SY 437918, scheduled as ancient monuments. <5>

The low earthwork mound is visible on lidar taken in 2008 <6> and was digitally plotted during the South West Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment (Dorset).

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1928-38 (Map). SWX1540.

('A' SY 43789172, 'B' SY 43769182) Tumuli (NR)

<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 Grinsell, L V, 1935-54, Dorset Barrows 1935-54 Manuscript (Unpublished document).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), 239 (Monograph). SDO97.

b and d (27) Barrows, near Thorncombe Beacon, are three in number:—(a), 180 yards N. of the summit of the beacon, is a bowl barrow 106 ft. in diameter and 13 ft. high. It has been disturbed on the S. side; (b), 230 yards N.E. of (a), is a bowl barrow 82 ft. in diameter and 3½ to 4 ft. high; (c), 280 yards N.N.E. of (a), is a bowl barrow about 75 ft. in diameter and 4 ft. high. 350 yards E.S.E. of the summit of the beacon is a mound, apparently a "pillow mound", approximately 93 ft. by 16½ ft. and 1½ ft. high with traces of a surrounding ditch.

<4> Swatridge, G C, Various, Field Investigators Comments GCS, F1 GCS 21-SEP-54 (Unpublished document). SWX1169.

<5> Department of the Environment, 1978, Department of the Environment (IAM) Ancient Monuments of England (Vol 2), 69 (Monograph). SWX1687.

<6> Channel Coastal Observatory, 23-MAR-2008, Lidar (Photograph). SDO12878.

<7> National Record of the Historic Environment, 450225 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Oct 7 2024 2:35PM