Monument record MDO405 - Bell Barrow in Highfield Plantation, Bradford Peverell

Bronze Age bell barrow. In 1952 this monument was reported as around 63 feet in diameter with a mound about 5 feet high. This barrow as opened in 1887 by antiquarian Edward Cunnington, who found a burnt burial with ashes at a lower level, probably the remains of a cremation burial.

Three round barrows north of Forty Acre Plantation opened by E Cunnington in 1880 and 1887. <3>

'C' - SY 66509174. Probable bell barrow according to RCHM (No 15a), in Highfield Plantation, measuring 45 ft diameter and 5 ft high with surrounding raised berm making the diameter 63 ft. Grinsell, however, listed this tree-covered mound as a bowl barrow (Grinsell No 28) surrounded by a tree-clump circle. Undoubtedly Cunnington's barrow No.14 which contained a (?) primary cremation with ashes at a lower level. <5>

'C' - Tree-covered mound severely mutilated on top by military-looking ditches, with overall diameter of 20.0 m and a height of 1.8 m which includes a berm 2.0 m wide and 0.4 m high. Partly destroyed in the north east by a hedge bank. Although there is no ditch, this feature is probably a bell barrow and is not surrounded by an afforestation circle as stated by Grinsell. The finds were not on display in Dorset County Museum. <4>

Two beakers and one fragment (Corpus Nos 173-4) listed by Clarke. In Dorset County Museum, Dorchester Acc Nos 1884.9.98a and 99. <6>

'C', a tree and ivy covered bell barrow, measures 21.4 metres overall with traces of an outer ditch. It has been trenched across its centre with a later foxhole on its north side; it is otherwise as described and measured by Authority (4) (see ground photograph). Revised at 1:2500 on M.S.D. <7>

Bell Barrow located at SY 6649 9174 and 2 bowl barrows located at SY 6661 9177 and SY 6667 9181situated on a ridge overlooking the Frome valley and near part of the cosurse of a Roman aquaduct which once supplied water to Dorchester. The bell barrow is 1 metre in height and 20 metres in diameter. It was partially excavated by E Cunnington in 1887 and a burnt burial and ashes were discovered. The bowl barrows are both 0.5 metres in height and 30 metres in diameter. Cunnington excavated these in 1880 and found ashes in the western mound and a sketelon with 2 beakers in the eastern mound which were on display in the Dorset County Museum. <8>

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1927-38 (Map). SWX1540.

('C' - SY 66509174) Tumulus (NR)

<2> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1916, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club for 1916, 42 (Serial). SDO25.

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments England, 1952, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume I (West), 36 (Monograph). SDO97.

‘(15) Barrows, to the N. and E. of Forty Acre Plantation 1 m. S.E. of the church, are eight in number; some of them were opened by E. Cunnington 1879–87 (Dor. N.H. and Ant. F.C. xxxvii, p. 41). The most westerly (a), perhaps a bell barrow, is actually in Highfield Plantation; it is 45 ft. in diam. with a surrounding raised berm making the diam. 63 ft.; it is 5 ft. high. This is Cunnington's No. 14 and was opened in 1887 and contained a burnt burial with ashes at a lower level. …’

<4> Rigg, J, Field Investigators Comments JR, F1 JR 13-SEP-1954 (Unpublished document). SWX1255.

<5> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 96 (Monograph). SDO132.

‘Cunnington 14: primary (?) cremation. This barrow is covered by trees and surrounded by a tree-clump circle.’

<5.1> Cunnington, E, 1915, Cunnington MSS (Unpublished document). SDO10110.

<6> Clarke, D L, 1970, Beaker Pottery of Great Britain and Ireland, 479 (Monograph). SDO18289.

<7> Attrill, N J, Field Investigators Comments NJA, F2 NJA 23-MAR-1981 (Unpublished document). SDO14743.

<8> English Heritage, English Heritage Scheduling Amendment, 16-JAN-2001 (Scheduling record). SDO17245.

<9> National Record of the Historic Environment, 453363 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Jan 1 2024 5:00PM