Monument record MDO3095 - Long barrow, one of the Lanceborough Group, Winterborne Monkton

The site of a plough-levelled long barrow, part of a cluster of monuments located to the north of Maiden Castle. In 1970 it was described as a north-south aligned earthwork mound 320 feet long and an average of 45 feet wide with flanking ditches on both sides. The ditches had clearly defined ends to the south, but appeared to fade towards the northern end. The mound was already heavily plough-damaged, and it was suggested that it may have been deliberately levelled. Visible as a cropmark on aerial photographs. The site was digitally plotted during the South Dorset Ridgeway Mapping Project.

Ploughed out-no remains. <3>

<1> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 30 (Monograph). SDO132.

<2> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 2, 432 (Monograph). SDO136.

‘(4) LONG BARROW (SY 68 NE; 66568930; Fig. p. 494), within the Lanceborough Barrow Group (AH), lies over 300 ft. above O.D. on a broad flat-topped chalk rise from which the ground drops gently to N., E., and S. Aligned almost N.-S. (2°), it is 320 ft. long, 45 ft. wide on average, and 3 ins. high above the ditch bottom on the W. and 1¼ ft. on the E. The parallel side ditches have clearly defined ends on the S. but both mound and ditches fade out on the N. The W. ditch shows as a straight dark soil-mark, about 12 ft. wide, along a broad shallow depression; the E. ditch, on an almost level shelf, is less regular. The ditch of a ploughed-out round barrow, Winterborne Monkton (5), almost touches the long barrow ditch on the S.W. The mound has been heavily ploughed and perhaps deliberately levelled.’

<3> Barton, J G, Various, Field Investigators Comments JGB, F1 JGB 12-SEP-80 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

<4> Papworth, M, 1983, The South Dorset Ridgeway Project: condition and management survey, SDR 429 (Index). SDO12304.

This long barrow has been completely ploughed out and there is no visible remains in a field of ley pasture. 1/7/E

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 Wessex Archaeology, 2011, South Dorset Ridgeway Barrow Survey 2010 (Unpublished document).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

<6> National Monuments Record, 22-JUN-1976, NMR SY6689/20/15 (JRB 3084) (Aerial Photograph). SDO11796.

<7> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/093 RCHME Inventory: Dorset II (South-East) (Unpublished document). SDO17434.

<8> National Record of the Historic Environment, 452148 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Oct 25 2024 10:49AM