Monument record MDO3720 - Bowl barrow on Hambledon Hill, Child Okeford

A bowl barrow on Hambledon Hill, within the southern end of the hill-fort. The centre of the barrow mound has been disturbed, and there are only traces of a ditch on the south side. 40ft. in diam and 1.5ft. high. The feature is visible as a low and slightly disturbed earthwork mound with a partial ditch on its south, west, and possibly north sides on early aerial photographs and Environment Agency lidar imagery. It was digitally plotted during the Mid Dorset Downs AIM project.

Two bowl barrows: 'A' (ST 84521240), diameter 40 feet and height 1 foot, with traces of a ditch on the south side. The centre has been disturbed. <1> <3>

ST 84521240. 'A' A flat topped bowl barrow measures 11.0m diameter and 0.4m high. The centre has been disturbed and the ditch is unsurveyable. 'A' Surveyed at 1:2500 on PFD. <4>

Between late May and late August 1996 the Cambridge and Exeter offices of RCHME carried out an earthwork survey and aerial photographic interpretation of the complex of monuments on Hambledon Hill as part of the project to record Industry and Enclosure in the Neolithic period.

Barrow A (ST 8452 1240) is as described by Source 5. The ditch is evident as a minimal depression around the W side of the barrow. Two looting trenches cut into the top of the barrow, but the earthwork is otherwise relatively well-preserved, due to its re-use as a nodal point in the ?Post-Medieval field system (ST 81 SW 69). For further details, see RCHME Level 3 client report and earthwork plan at 1:1000 scale, held in archive. <5>

The feature is visible as a low and slightly disturbed earthwork mound just under 12m across, with a roughly 1m wide partial ditch on its south, west and possibly north sides on early aerial photographs and Environment Agency lidar imagery (ALK 1924; RAF 1947; EA 2018). It was digitally plotted during the Mid Dorset Downs AIM project.

Alexander Keiller Collection, 14-JUL-1924, ALK/7434 251 (Aerial Photograph). SDO21576.

Royal Air Force, 23-JAN-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1944 RP 3328 (Aerial Photograph). SDO21501.

Environment Agency, xx-xxx-2018, Environment Agency National Lidar Programme DTM 1M (Aerial Photograph). SDO21483.

<1> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 100 (Monograph). SDO132.

<2> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1962 (Map). SWX1540.

ST 84521238 & ST 84521240 Tumuli (NR)

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 1, 83 (Monograph). SDO146.

'(25) BOWL BARROW (84521240) on Hambledon Hill, within the S. end of the hill-fort; centre disturbed; traces of ditch on S.; diam. 40 ft., ht.1½ ft.'

<4> Chaplin, C P, Various, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigator's Comments CC, F1 CC 07-APR-78 (Unpublished document). SWX3450.

<4.1> NMR ST 8412/3 & 5 (Aerial Photograph). SDO20386.

<5> RCHME: Industry and Enclosure in the Neolithic (Monograph). SWX1665.

<6> National Record of the Historic Environment, 206242 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Dec 8 2025 12:02PM