Monument record MDO3295 - Winterbourne Poor Lot: ditched triple bowl barrow, Poor Lot Group

Possible site of a ditched triple bowl barrow at Winterbourne Poor Lot. A possible long barrow with later modifications on steeply sloping ground on the north side of the South Winterbourne valley, commanding views across the Poor Lot barrow cemetery towards Black Down and the Long Bredy bank barrow. The site comprises a rectangular mound with three round mounds on its top. The rectangular mound, oriented NW/SE, is 45m long, 20m and 3m high. Three round mounds, probably Bronze Age barrows, occupy its top.

[A - SY 59319098 B - SY 59219085 C - SY 59149083] B - Triple tumulus. Hachures bad - needs revision. All now grass and obsolete. <2>

B. Three confluent bowl barrows each 15 paces diameter & 5 ft high. <3>

B. Three confluent ditchless and grass covered bowl barrows, each with an approx diameter of 14.0m, and a height of 1.4m from the N and 2.2m from the S. A lynchet runs from the N. to the W. barrow. <4>

Possible site of a possible ditched triple bowl barrow at Winterbourne Poor Lot. A feature is visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs which may be a barrow, a field lynchet or disturbance associated with chalk quarrying. <11>

A possible long barrow with later modifications forms part of the Poor Lot barrow cemetery. The site, previously recorded as part of SY 59 SE 57, lies at ST 5920 9085, on steeply sloping ground on the north side of the South Winterbourne valley, commanding views across the Poor Lot barrow cemetery towards Black Down and the Long Bredy bank barrow. The site comprises a rectangular mound with three round mounds on its top. The rectangular mound, oriented NW/SE, is 45m long, 20m and 3m high. Three round mounds occupy its top. The mound on the NW end is 6m in diameter and 1m high, that in the centre is 10m in diameter and 1m high, the mound on the SE end is 12m in diameter and 1m high. A slight sub-rectangular hollow on the NE side of the rectangular mound, 15m long, 7m wide and 0.5m deep, marks the remains of a ploughed over ditch. A later field system has utilised the mound which forms part of the corner of a field some 50m wide.

The site has been interpreted as a triple barrow <5> but it could equally be a long barrow with three small round barrows constructed on the top of the long barrow mound: ploughing has made interpretation difficult. <7>

The site was surveyed using differential GPS at a scale of 1: 1000 as part of a survey of the long barrows on the South Dorset Ridgeway carried out by English Heritage and the Ridgeway Survey Group. <8>

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1903 (Map). SWX1540.

[Group centred SY59239090] TUMULI [OE]

<2> Crawford, O G S, Annotated record map 6 inch, 20-4-24 (Map). SWX7265.

<3> Grinsell, L V, 1935-54, Dorset Barrows 1935-54 Manuscript (Unpublished document). SWX1556.

<4> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 03-JAN-55 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<5> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 463 (Monograph). SDO150.

'Ditched triple bowl (?) (59219085; Plate 210) on false crest of S.W. slope above and 77 yds. N.E. of (23), apparently on lynchet of 'Celtic' field. Appears as undulating and slightly curving bank about 160 ft. long with three arcs in plan on S.W. side and three crests in profile of mounds about 40 ft., 35 ft. and 35 ft. in diam., from N.W. to S.E. Hts. of mounds 6 ft., 7ft. and 5 ft. respectively, though much greater from downhill side (see profiles). Steep ridge-shaped mound joins W. and central mounds but junction between central and E. mounds much disturbed. On N.W. are remains of possible berm. Shallow elongated depression on N.E. is probably a quarry ditch and has been dug through surface of 'Celtic' field. Ditch about 12 ft. wide also at foot of barrow on N.W.'

<6> Papworth, M, 1983, The South Dorset Ridgeway Project: condition and management survey, SDR 83 (Index). SDO12304.

Unploughed but subjected to cattle erosion on the south facing side of the three mounds and also on the SW side of the SW mound. This mound has been infested by badgers and 4-5 sets were visible, two of these were still in use. Disturbance between the two north-easterly mounds. In a field of ley pasture. 1/2/C

<7> Riley, H, Field Investigators Comments: Hazel Riley (Unpublished document). SDO17469.

<8> Riley, H, 2008, Long Barrows on the South Dorset Ridgeway: a survey by English Heritage and the Ridgeway Survey Group (Unpublished document). SDO15192.

<9> English Heritage, Historic England Archive AF00268 Long Barrows on the South Dorset Ridgeway, Dorset (Excavation archive). SDO19846.

<10> Wessex Archaeology, 2011, South Dorset Ridgeway Barrow Survey 2010 (Unpublished document). SDO12407.

<11> 02-APR-1969, NMR OS/69053 015-6 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11138.

<12> National Record of the Historic Environment, 451222 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

<13> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1478226 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Jan 23 2025 12:24PM