Monument record MDO3393 - Pond barrow, one of the Sheep Down Group, Winterbourne Steepleton

Pond barrow, one of a group of several Bronze Age Barrows noted on Sheep Down. Also visible as an earthwork and a cropmark at this location on aerial photographs.

Five round barrows, including a double bowl and a pond barrow lie above apparent limit of 'Celtic' fields on a broad spur running North East from the Ridgeway at about 460 ft above OD. … 'B' Pond barrow (60708901) 93 yds North North East of 'A' Central depression, diam 35 ft, depth 2 ft, surrounded by bank 10 ft to 12 ft wide and 5 ins high. Excavation by H G Wakefield for the commission in 1947-8 and by R J C Atkinson in 1950 showed that a pavement of flints gathered from the top-soil largely covered the depression. Beneath and around the pavement were thirty-five pits cut into the chalk subsoil, in some cases through the pavement. Seventeen pits contained Early Bronze Age urns, two held an urn and an inhumation, one held a urn and a cremation, seven contained only cremations, and eight were filled with soil alone. The whole site had been stripped before the pavement was laid, the pits dug, and the bank built. <1-3> <5>

'B' Ploughed out. No remains. <4>

Site of a Bronze Age pond barrow. It is one of a group of several Bronze Age Barrows noted on Sheep Down (MDO3392-6) that lie above apparent limit of 'Celtic' fields (MDO3414) on a broad spur running North East from the Ridgeway at about 460 ft above OD.

A circular hollow which may be the remains of this barrow is also visible as an earthwork and a cropmark at this location on aerial photographs <9-10>, measuring approximately 11 metres in diameter. This site was digitally plotted during the South Dorset Ridgeway Mapping Project.

<1> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1949, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1948, 62-63 (Serial). SDO48.

<2> Atkinson, R J C, Brailsford, J W, and Wakefield, H G, 1951, 'A Pond Barrow at Winterbourne Steepleton, Dorset'; Archaeological Journal 108 (Article in serial). SDO17142.

<2> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1951, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1950, 88 (Serial). SDO50.

<3> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 156 (Monograph). SDO132.

<4> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1963 (Map). SWX1540.

('B' - SY 60688901; 'C' - SY 60718904; 'D' - SY 60758902; 'E' - SY 60868906) Tumuli (NR)

<5> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 472 (Monograph). SDO150.

<6> Barton, J G, Various, Field Investigators Comments JGB, F1 JGB 12-MAR-80 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

<7> Papworth, M, 1983, The South Dorset Ridgeway Project: condition and management survey, SDR 188 (Index). SDO12304.

Visible as an area of darker soil approx. 10.0m diameter forming a slight depression. No visible bank. Newly ploughed when visited. 7/6/E

<8> Wessex Archaeology, 2011, South Dorset Ridgeway Barrow Survey 2010 (Unpublished document). SDO12407.

<9> Royal Air Force, 17-JAN-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1934 3097-8 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11959.

<10> 21-4-1984, NMR OS/84038 359-60 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11807.

<11> National Record of the Historic Environment, 452384 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Dec 14 2023 1:17PM