Monument record MDO3398 - Bowl barrow on Sheep Down, Winterbourne Steepleton

Site of a Bronze Age bowl barrow. Recorded as an extant mound by RCHM and excavated in 1982. Also visible as an earthwork and cropmark on aerial photographs.

One of two round barrows: `B` Bowl (SY 61288898) on slight north-west slope 330 yds east-north-east of `A` across a shallow combe.Recorded as an extant mound by the RCHM, measuring 40ft. In diameter and 3.5ft. high, with an excavation hollow on top. <1> <3>

`B` SY 61288897. Bowl barrow in arable. Diameter 13.0m. Height 1.0m. Maximum. No visible ditch. Re-surveyed at 1:2500 on MSD. <4>

Barrow B was excavated by Peter Woodward in 1982. Only a quarter of the barrow was excavated, a single BA cremation occuring within the barrow and a second south of the outer ditch. A BA Cemetery containing 3 cremations was located adjacent to the barrow and to the NE. Woodward concluded that this was a Bronze Age bowl barrow, adjacent to a contemporary enclosure (possible saucer barrow) to the north-east. The structure of the barrow has been greatly reduced by medieval arable incursion and previous antiquarian activities. <5>
<6>

Also visible as an earthwork and a cropmark on aerial photographs <9-11>, measuring approximately 14.4 metres in diameter. This site was digitally plotted during the South Dorset Ridgeway Mapping Project.

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1963 (Map). SWX1540.

(Centred at SY 61058896) Tumulus [NR] (twice)

<2> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 156 (Monograph). SDO132.

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 473 (Monograph). SDO150.

<4> Barton, J G, Various, Field Investigators Comments JGB, F1 JGB 28-FEB-80 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

<5> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1983, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1982, 173-5 (Serial). SDO82.

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

'Excavated by P J Woodward July 1982.'

<7> Woodward, Peter J, 1991, The South Dorset Ridgeway. Survey and Excavations 1977-84 (Monograph). SDO11947.

<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 Wessex Archaeology, 2011, South Dorset Ridgeway Barrow Survey 2010 (Unpublished document).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). SDO11790.

<10> Royal Air Force, 04-NOV-1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1824 4279-81 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11791.

<11> 21-4-1984, NMR OS/84038 359-60 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11807.

<12> National Record of the Historic Environment, 452351 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Dec 14 2023 12:56PM