Monument record MDO306 - Bowl barrow on Chalbury, Bincombe

One of two Bronze Age bowl barrows lying within Chalbury hillfort, visible as earthworks on aerial photographs. This barrow may be the barrow on Chalbury opened by antiquarian Charles Warne, who found two urns with burnt bones, the probable remains of at least two cremation burials.

This barrow was 22 paces in diameter and 5 feet in height. Either 37 or 38 (a cairn) was opened by CW, it contained 2 urns (hopelessly crushed) with burnt bones. <2>

Two round barrows situated within Chalbury hill-fort:- A-SY 69488389. A ditched bowl barrow, 66 ft diameter by 5 ft high, probably the one opened by Warne within Chalbury, which contained two inurned cremations. B-SY 69518384. A bowl barrow, 65 ft diameter x 4 ft high. <3>

'A' SY 69498389. Bowl barrow, diameter approximately 20.0m, height 1.7m. No visible ditch. Both barrows have been dug into and mutialted. Re-surveyed at 1:2500 on MSD. <4>

One of two Bronze Age bowl barrows lying within Chalbury hillfort, visible as earthworks on aerial photographs <6-8>. The site was digitally plotted during the South Dorset Ridgeway Mapping Project.

<1> Warne, C, 1866, The Celtic Tumuli of Dorset (1866) (Monograph). SWX8166.

<2> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 91 (Monograph). SDO132.

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 440 (Monograph). SDO150.

‘(73) Ditched bowl (SY 68 SE; 69488389). Within Chalbury hill-fort (Bincombe (76); Fig. p. 484, Plate 216) above 300 ft. contour. Diam. 66 ft., ht. 5 ft. Probably opened by Warne, who found two inurned cremations in a cairn.’

<4> Barton, J G, Various, Field Investigators Comments JGB, F1 JGB 02-JUL-80 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

<5> Papworth, M, 1983, The South Dorset Ridgeway Project: condition and management survey, SDR 533 (Index). SDO12304.

Diameter 20.0m, ht. 1.7m. No visible ditch. In permanent pasture in 1983. 1/3/C

<6> Royal Air Force, 04-NOV-1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1824 3242 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11964.

<7> 2006, LiDAR D0059947 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11966.

<8> 06-MAR-2003, NMR SY6983/12-15 (23002/01-4) (Aerial Photograph). SDO11967.

<9> Wessex Archaeology, 2011, South Dorset Ridgeway Barrow Survey 2010 (Unpublished document). SDO12407.

<10> National Record of the Historic Environment, 452694 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Jan 16 2025 7:10PM