Monument record MDO4368 - Bowl barrow, Milborne St Andrew

A bowl barrow situated on a low ridge below Milborne Down. In 1970 this monument was reportd as around 57 feet in diameter with a mound 2½ feet high, and much damaged. Three unlocated barrows on the lower part of Milborne Down were excavated by Charles Warne in the mid-19th century and it is possible that this excavation refers to this group of barrows. The investigations revealed in three separate barrows: a primary cremation in an urn placed in a cist, a primary inhumation of an adult on a sandstone paved floor with a secondary inhumation of an infant, and a primary inhumation covered by a cairn with three subsequent inhumations placed in the cairn and a secondary cremation in the mound. The site is visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs and was digitally recorded during the Dorset Upper Cerne and Piddle AIM Project. Traces of an internal mound are visible as low earthworks on lidar imagery.

Four unlocated barrows on Milborne Down were opened by C Warne and numbered 22-25. <1>

'A' - (26) - SY 81629681. Bowl barrow, 57 ft diameter and 2 1/2 ft high situated on a low ridge below Milborne Down. Much ploughed. <2> <4>

'A'. SY 81619681. Bowl barrow, diameter 21.0 metres, height 0.8 metres. … Both barrows are in pasture and neither has a visible ditch. Nothing is visible on the ground of cropmarks 'C' and 'D'. 'A' and 'B' resurveyed at 1:2500 on M.S.D. <6>

The monument includes two bowl barrows and two other probable bowl barrows, which are visible as ring ditches on aerial photographs, on a low ridge below Milborne Down, 450 metres north-west of Haywards Farm. The barrows form part of a group of five similar monuments, of which four can now be identified.
The two bowl barrows which are situated to the north each have a mound 20 metres in diameter and up to 0.7 metres high. The two ring ditches were recorded by the Ordnance Survey in 1981 and are known to have diameters of 20 metres, including the ditch. A fifth barrow, shown on Ordnance Survey drawings of 1805 and 1811, may have previously existed but, as it is not visible on aerial photographs and can no longer be verified on the ground, it is not included in the scheduling. Three unlocated barrows on the lower part of Milborne Down were excavated by Charles Warne in the mid-19th century and it is possible that this excavation refers to this group of barrows. The investigations revealed in three separate barrows: a primary cremation in an urn placed in a cist, a primary inhumation of an adult on a sandstone paved floor with a secondary inhumation of an infant, and a primary inhumation covered by a cairn with three subsequent inhumations placed in the cairn and a secondary cremation in the mound.<7>

The site is visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs <9> and was digitally recorded during the Dorset Upper Cerne and Piddle AIM Project. Traces of an internal mound are visible as low earthworks on lidar imagery <10>.

<1> Warne, C, 1866, The Celtic Tumuli of Dorset (1866) (Monograph). SWX8166.

<2> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 120 (Monograph). SDO132.

<3> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1968 (Map). SWX1540.

('A' - SY 81629681; 'B' - SY 81689680) Tumuli (NR)

<4> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 2, 182 (Monograph). SDO136.

'(26) Bowl, on a low ridge below Milborne Down. Much damaged. Diam. 57 ft, ht 2½ ft.'

<5> Ordnance Survey, 18-APR-1980, OS 80/021/158-9 (Aerial Photograph). SDO19595.

<6> Barton, J G, Various, Field Investigators Comments JGB, F2 JGB 20-MAY-81 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

<7> English Heritage, Scheduling Amendment, 19-SEP-2000 (Scheduling record). SDO17245.

<8> National Record of the Historic Environment, 455880 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

<9> National Monuments Record, 16-MAY-2014, NMR 29163/08 (Aerial Photograph). SDO20772.

<10> Environment Agency, 15-DEC-2023, LIDAR Environment Agency DTM (Aerial Photograph). SDO20691.

Record last edited

Sep 12 2024 2:08PM