Monument record MDO3214 - Barrow or Hengiform Monument in the Third Milestone Group, Winterborne St Martin

A possible hengiform enclosure or barrow of Late Neolithic or Bronze Age origin is visible as two concentirc ring ditches on aerial photographs. It forms part of a wider group of round barrows running in an irregular east-west line on the crest of a ridge immediately south of the A35.

Three bowl barrows near the third milestone from milestone from Dorchester were examined by Grinsell in 1954. 'A' - SY 64279035. Bowl barrow, 24 paces diameter and 5 ft high. <1>

'A' - (114) - SY 64269034. Bowl (?) barrow, 72 ft diameter and 5ft high. <3>

SY 643904. Three round barrows south of Hart Hill Plantation. Scheduled. (See SY 69 SW 72 for probable excavation of some of these
barrows). <4>

'A'. SY 64269034. Bowl barrow, diameter 27.0 metres approximately, height 1.8 metres. Ploughed; no visible ditch. Re-surveyed at 1:2500 on M.S.D. <5>

A bowl barrow, listed by Grinsell as Winterborne St Martin 5 and by RCHME as Winterborne St Martin 113. Part of a barrow cemetery (see SY 69 SW 49 and associated monuments), in 1981 the Ordnance Survey recorded it as a mound 21 metres in diameter and 2.1 metres high, with "faint and unsurveyable traces of a ditch" surrounding the mound. Grinsell and RCHME both noted a hollow in the top of the mound, suggesting an episode of antiquarian excavation (see SY 69 SW 49 and 72). <1> <3>

A possible hengiform enclosure or barrow of Late Neolithic or Bronze Age origin is visible as two concentirc ring ditches on aerial photographs. The outer-most ring ditch is approximately 30m in diameter and the inner ring ditch is 17m diameter. They may both be contemporary with one another or the result of separate phases of construction of the monument, such as the re-use or adoption of a Neolithic monument in the Bronze Age. It forms part of a wider group of round barrows running in an irregular east-west line on the crest of a ridge immediately south of the A35 (Roman road RR 4f). <9-10>

<1> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 151 (Monograph). SDO132.

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

(Centred SY 643903) Tumuli (NR)

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 470 (Monograph). SDO150.

<4> Department of the Environment, 1977, Department of the Environment (IAM) Ancient Monuments of England Vol 2, 74 (Monograph). SWX2300.

<5> Barton, J G, Various, Field Investigators Comments JGB, F1 JGB 06-MAR-81 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

<6> Papworth, M, 1983, The South Dorset Ridgeway Project: condition and management survey, SDR 321 (Index). SDO12304.

Diameter 27.0m approx. and ht. 1.8m. Reduced and spread by ploughing in ley pasture. 1/3/C

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

<8> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/093 RCHME Inventory: Dorset II (South-East) (Unpublished document). SDO17434.

<9> 29-OCT-1997, NMR SY6490/2 (15847/08) (Aerial Photograph). SDO11148.

<10> 22-JUN-1976, NMR SY 6490/1/18 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11147.

<11> National Record of the Historic Environment, 453765 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

<12> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1267989 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Feb 10 2024 7:28AM