Monument record MDO3100 - Round barrow, Winterborne Monkton

Possible barrow, circular bank about 60ft. in diam, visible only as a crop-mark on an aerial photograph. The site was digitally plotted during the South Dorset Ridgeway Mapping Project.

'A' is listed by Grinsell as a bowl barrow 20 paces in diameter by 1 foot high. <1>

(Centred SY 675882) Barrow group noted by Skinner in 1829. 'A' Possible barrow on slope of ridge. Circular bank about 60 feet in diameter, visible only as cropmark on air photograph. <3>

All the barrows are visible on Crawford air photograph. <4>

'A' SY 67478822. Barrow, 20.0m. Diameter approximately and height 0.2m. No visible ditch. All these barrows are in arable and have been ploughed-down to such an extent that their type cannot be determined. Re-surveyed at 1:2500 on M.S.D. <5>

The site was digitally plotted during the South Dorset Ridgeway Mapping Project.

A Bronze Age round barrow cemetery containing five round barrows, all situated on a gentle, south east facing slope, to the south east of Maiden Castle. The north western example is a bowl barrow, visible as a mound composed of earth, chalk and flint, with maximum dimensions of 16 metres in diameter and circa 0.4 metres in height. The mound is surrounded by a quarry ditch which has become infilled over the years, but will survive as a buried feature circa 1.5 metres wide. To the south east are a pair of round barrows aligned north east-south west. The north eastern example is a pond barrow, defined by a bank which, although reduced by ploughing, is known from aerial photographic evidence to survive in part defining an area 18 metres in diameter. The south western example represents a bowl barrow, visible as a mound 28 metres in diameter and circa 0.45 metres high. Further to the south east, are a pair of disc barrows aligned north west by south east. Survey by the RCHME in 1970 demonstrated that the north west barrow has a central mound 18 metres in diameter surrounded by a ditch and outer bank, forming an overall diameter of 45 metres. The outer bank has been reduced by ploughing and the quarry ditch has become infilled, but will survive as a buried feature. The south eastern disc barrow is now visible as a mound with maximum dimensions of 31 metres in diameter and circa 0.25 metres in height. Despite reduction by ploughing, the outer bank and ditch of the south eastern barrow are known to survive and to intersect and cut through the bank and ditch of the barrow to the north west. The south eastern disc barrow was partly excavated by Skinner in 1833-4, when a central cist containing a cremation in an upright urn was discovered. <8>

<1> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 150 (Monograph). SDO132.

<1> National Monuments Record, 31-MAR-2003, NMR SY6788/125 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11814.

<2> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1963 (Map). SWX1540.

("A" - SY 67478822) 'D' SY 67448826) Tumuli (NR) (1) (site of) (NAT)

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 465-6 (Monograph). SDO150.

<4> Crawford, O G S, Crawford 1611/17/45 5820/17/71 (Aerial Photograph). SDO20457.

<5> Barton, J G, Various, Field Investigators Comments JGB, F1 JGB 04-JUL-80 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

<6> Papworth, M, 1983, The South Dorset Ridgeway Project: condition and management survey, SDR 439 (Index). SDO12304.

Diameter 20.0m and ht. 0.2m. No visible ditch. This barrow has been severely reduced and spread by ploughing. Situated in ley pasture. 7/5/D

<7> Wessex Archaeology, 2011, South Dorset Ridgeway Barrow Survey 2010 (Unpublished document). SDO12407.

<8> National Record of the Historic Environment, 451875 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Jan 16 2025 7:19PM