Monument record MDO40146 - Bronze Age round barrow, Knowlton, Wimborne St Giles

A small round barrow is visible as a cropmark on aerial photographs of 1995. The barrow is associated with the extensive Bronze Age barrow cemetery known as the Knowlton Circles Barrow Group and could be of similar date. However, its small size suggests that a later date is possible. The feature was mapped by English Heritage’s Knowlton Circles Project and digitally plotted by the Dorset Stour NMP project.

SU 0334 1072. A small round barrow is visible as a cropmark on aerial photographs and has been mapped by EH's Knowlton Circles Project. The barrow is defined by a single circular ditch 12.8m in diameter. Many barrows of similar size appear in the immediate vicinity (SU 01 SW 200, SU 01 SW 190). <1>

The barrow is associated with the Bronze Age barrow cemetery known as the Knowlton Circles Barrow Group (SU 01 SW 52) and could be of similar date. However, its small size suggests that a later date is possible. Very small round barrows have been recorded elsewhere in England in Bronze Age, Iron Age, Roman and Saxon contexts. In particular, in one of the square barrow cemeteries at Garton Slack, on the Yorkshire Wolds, very small round barrows represented a very late phase of the Iron Age burial rite. <3>

A sub-circular cropmark at Knowlton is visible on 1990s aerial photographs. <1-2>

The feature measures around 11m in diameter and may represent a small Bronze Age or Iron Age barrow.

The feature was digitally plotted by the Dorset Stour NMP.

<1> National Monuments Record, 13-JUL-1995, NMR SU 0310/10 (NMR 15314/21) (Aerial Photograph). SDO18729.

<2> National Monuments Record, 13-JUL-1995, NMR 15314/019 (SU0310/008) (Aerial Photograph). SDO15711.

<3> Catherine Stoertz, 1997, Ancient landscapes of the Yorkshire Wolds:, 33-4 (Monograph). SDO18730.

<4> Historic England, Historic England Archive, Object Number: AF1339047. Object Title: EH: Knowlton Circles, Dorset (Index). SDO14738.

<5> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1409889 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Nov 3 2022 4:52PM