Monument record MDO2954 - Bowl barrow, one of the Culliford Tree Group, Whitcombe

'F' - SY 70038541. Bowl barrow of diameter 18.0m. and height 1.7m. Surveyed at 1:2500, on M.S.D. <3>

Site of a Bronze Age bowl barrow, part of a wider linear barrow cemetery. <7-8>

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1963 (Map). SWX1540.

(Centred at SY 70008540) Tumuli (NR)

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 459 (Monograph). SDO150.

'Eleven of the nineteen barrows are in the Culliford Tree Group (R.11), and four in a small Group (AB) on the N. slope from the Ridgeway. (R.11) Culliford Tree Group (SY 68 NE, 78 NW; Plate 209). Twenty-six round barrows, with a bank barrow (Broadmayne (19)), a long barrow (Whitcombe (5)) and a small D-shaped enclosure (Whitcombe (25)) closely associated, in the S. of Winterborne Came, Whitcombe and Broadmayne parishes, where they end some 470 ft. above O.D. on top of the Ridgeway. Included in the group are two probable bells, and three, possibly five, pond barrows. A W.-E. line of barrows from (9) to Broadmayne (24), including the bank barrow, is on the exact summit of the narrow but gently defined ridge. (7, 10) virtually share this position but all the others are off the exact summit, …
The bank barrow is earlier than Broadmayne (20), which lies over its W. end (cf. (8) on top of long barrow Whitcombe (5)). It is almost certainly earlier than (9–16), seemingly arranged to continue its alignment to the W. on the crest, and than Broadmayne (21–3), lying parallel to it on the N. edge of its ditch. Indeed the whole group appears to be related to the bank barrow, from which, also, barrows of Groups R.10, R.12, R. 13 and R.14 are clearly visible. This concentration of barrows in groups around the bank barrow appears to be the E. end of the Ridgeway Group: very few barrows, and certainly no comparable complex, exist along the Ridgeway to the E.
A D-shaped enclosure, now destroyed, lay adjacent to Whitcombe (13) and (14); it was perhaps earlier than (14) and may be directly associated with the barrow alignment (see Enclosures, Whitcombe (25)).
All of the barrows are damaged, particularly by ploughing and many are covered by trees or scrub; only one excavation, (9), is certainly located. From: 'Earthworks: Round Barrows', An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Dorset, Volume 2: South East (1970), pp. 434-480. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=127569 Date accessed: 08 October 2014. … (13) Bowl (70038542) 40 yds. E. of (12). Diam. 72 ft., ht. 4½ ft. On E. probably just touches enclosure (25). '

<3> Barton, J G, Various, Field Investigators Comments JGB, F2 JGB 16-NOV-79 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

<4> Papworth, M, 1983, The South Dorset Ridgeway Project: condition and management survey, SDR 592 (Index). SDO12304.

Bowl 18.0m diameter, ht. 1.7m. Overgrown, no visible evidence of a ditch. Unploughed, basal plough damage. Surrounding field in ley pasture. 1/2/C

<5> Wessex Archaeology, 2011, South Dorset Ridgeway Barrow Survey 2010 (Unpublished document). SDO12407.

<6> McOmish, D and Tuck, C, 2001, Broadmayne Bank Barrow, Dorset (Unpublished document). SDO16432.

<7> 22-APR-1954, NMR SY 7085/6-10 (Aerial Photograph). SDO10766.

<8> Royal Air Force, 04-NOV-1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1824 3284-6 (Aerial Photograph). SDO10765.

<9> National Record of the Historic Environment, 453945 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Jan 16 2025 7:09PM