Monument record MDO3394 - Double bowl barrow, part of the Sheep Down Barrow Group, Winterbourne Steepleton

Site of a pair of Bronze Age bowl barrows. Noted as extant earthworks by field investigators and also visible as earthworks and cropmarks 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. … 'C' Ditched double bowl (60728904) immediately adjacent on North North East of 'B'. diams of mounds 59 ft and 55 ft, hts 5 ft and 4 1/2 ft; joined by slight bank and surrounded by hour- glass shaped ditch 12 ft wide. Partially sectioned during excavation of 'B', the ditch was just over 2 ft deep and probably dug before 'B' was constructed. Bronze Age sherds probably of bucket urn found on south West of W mound. <1> <2>

'C' SY 60708904. Twin bowl barrows, with ditch 6.0m. wide on south side only, possibly, but not certainly, common to both. Each barrow is 18.0m in diameter and 2.0m. high, in arable but not ploughed. A, C, D, E Re-surveyed at 1:2500 on MSD. Detail of B deleted on
1:2500 MSD. <4>

Site of a pair of Bronze Age bowl barrows. They are part 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.

They are also visible as earthworks and cropmarks at this location on aerial photographs <7-12>, the western bowl measuring approximately 15.5 metres in diameter, the bowl to the east 16.7 meters diameter. They appear to be connected by an outer bank, approximately 2.5 meters in width, that runs along their southern edge. This site was digitally plotted during the South Dorset Ridgeway Mapping Project.

<1> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 156 (Monograph). SDO132.

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

('B' - SY 60688901; 'C' - SY 60718904; 'D' - SY 60758902; 'E' - SY 60868906) 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, 472-473 (Monograph). SDO150.

<4> Barton, J G, Various, Field Investigators Comments JGB, F1 JGB 12-MAR-80 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

<5> Papworth, M, 1983, The South Dorset Ridgeway Project: condition and management survey, SDR 189 (Index). SDO12304.

Diameter reduced by close ploughing of perimeter. Mounds extremely mutilated due to badger infestation. Ditch visible on SW. The slight bank joining the two mounds mentioned in RCHM has been ploughed out. Surronding field cultivated. 1/3/C

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 Wessex Archaeology, 2011, South Dorset Ridgeway Barrow Survey 2010 (Unpublished document).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

<7> 21-4-1984, NMR OS/84038 359-60 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11807.

<8> 14-6-1988, NMR OS/88184 619 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11820.

<9> Ordnance Survey, 20-7-1989, NMR OS/89389 116-7 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11809.

<10> 28-6-2000, NMR SY6089/13 (18803/10) (Aerial Photograph). SDO11815.

<11> Royal Air Force, 17-JAN-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1934 3097-8 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11790.

<12> Royal Air Force, 04-NOV-1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1824 4279-81 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11791.

<13> National Record of the Historic Environment, 452384 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Dec 14 2023 1:13PM