Monument record MDO3241 - Bowl barrow near Maiden Castle, Winterborne St Martin

Possible bowl, 50ft. in diam and 1.5ft. high. Probably covered three inhumations and secondary unaccompanied vessel. Visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs. The site was digitally plotted during the South Dorset Ridgeway Mapping Project.

'C' Bowl barrow 50 feet diameter by 1 1/2 feet high, on the summit of the col connecting Hog Hill and Maiden Castle. (R.C.H.M. and Grinsell suggest that this is a barrow opened before 1843 by John Sydenham (his No.7). If so, all these barrows may belong to a group excavated by him. <1> <3>

'C'. SY 66438869. Bowl barrow in arable; ploughed. Diameter 15.0m., height 0.6m. No visible ditch. Re-surveyed at 1:2500 on M.S.D. <4>

On floor three primary inhumations, near surface all but the rim of a decorated bowl, beaker or food vessel. Probably covered three inhumations and secondary unaccompanied vessel. (RCHM). Visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs <7>. The site was digitally plotted during the South Dorset Ridgeway Mapping Project.

A bowl barrow, one of a group located imemdiately northwest of Maiden castle (SY 68 NE 7), only just outside the ramparts. It is listed by Grinsell as Winterborne St martin 34b and by RCHME as Winterborne St Martin 140. In 1980, the Ordnance Survey described it as a mound 15 metres in diameter and 0.6 metres high with no visible traces of a surrounding ditch. Scheduled. This barrow has been identified by both RCHME and by Grinsell with one of a group of barrows excavated circa 1840 by J Sydenham. Sydenham's barrow number 7 was described by him as follows: "A small barrow contiguous to the outer agger of the stupendous earthwork, Maiden Castle...This barrow had no cist: there were three interments by simple inhumation on the floor of the barrow. Near its summit was a small urn...decorated all over with the favourite zig-zag ornament of the antients. No bones, ashes, or other indications of an interment were found in immediate association with this urn". The vessel in question appears to be a Beaker, indicating an Early Bronze Age date at the latest for the barrow. This barrow was originally recorded as part of SY 68 NE 30. That record should be consulted for additional sources and information. <9>

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

('A' - SY 66448875; 'B' - SY 66438871; 'C' - SY 66438869 Tumuli (NR)

<2> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 153 (Monograph). SDO132.

<2.1> Sydenham, J, 1844, An account of the opening of some barrows in south Dorsetshire; Archaeologia 30, 327-338 (Article in serial). SDO17222.

<2.2> Warne, C, 1866, The Celtic Tumuli of Dorset (1866), 46 (Monograph). SWX8166.

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 471 (Monograph). SDO150.

<4> Barton, J G, Various, Field Investigators Comments JGB, F1 JGB 21-MAY-80 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

<5> Papworth, M, 1983, The South Dorset Ridgeway Project: condition and management survey, SDR 423 (Index). SDO12304.

Diameter 15.0m, ht. 0.6m. Ploughed down in ley pasture. 1/4/C

<6> Wessex Archaeology, 2011, South Dorset Ridgeway Barrow Survey 2010 (Unpublished document). SDO12407.

<7> Royal Air Force, 17-JAN-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1934 3089-90 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11804.

<8> National Record of the Historic Environment, 451943 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

<9> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1269369 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Jan 23 2025 12:45PM