Monument record MDO45942 - Roke Down Barrow Group, Bere Regis

<1> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 437 (Monograph). SDO150.

'(D) ROKE DOWN GROUP (SY 89 NW), six barrows in two clusters of three, the westernmost including two probable bells. In arable on S. slopes of Down near 200 ft. contour; all except (96) among 'Celtic' fields with (93-5) probably at field angles (see Ancient Field Group (30)). All have probably been opened. Accounts exist of six excavations hereabouts but only one can be related with certainty to a specific barrow (97), though the account in Hutchins of even this is confused (Hutchins I, 143-4; Warne, C.T.D., cpf, no. 2 and 17 n; Payne, Durden Catalogue (1892), 12-18; Abercromby II, 39 and fig. 375; Ant. J. XIII (1933), 443).

A barrow 'on the upper part of Roke Down' (LVG 46a; Warne, C.T.D., cpf, no.2) contained a cremation, probably primary, in an inverted urn in a grave 3 ft. deep. In the mound near the centre were four cremations in bucket urns, of which three were inverted. Immediately above three extended inhumations lay E.-W. and a similar inhumation, with a plain urn, came from the S. side of the mound. A sixth cremation, in a very small urn, lay just below the turf on the S.E.

A barrow (LVG 46b) a few yards to the E. contained two primary contracted inhumations. One lay in a grave 6 ft. long, 2 ft. wide and 2 ft. deep, accompanied by a cremation in a small 'drinking cup'. The other was in a grave about 5 ft. away with animal bones. In a layer of soil and charcoal 2 ft. thick at the base of the mound were four more inhumations and two 'drinking cups'. At least seven urns, three of them complete, accompanied or contained cremations higher in the mound. One complete biconical urn with applied horse-shoe handles and perforated lugs contained a bead of rolled sheet bronze; another a small bone pin.

In a third barrow (LVG 46c), a cremation, probably primary, with broken urn lay in a cist, near which were three further cremations and another urn. Four urns lay on the S. side of the mound and on the N.E. was an inhumation in a stone-lined grave. The fourth barrow (LVG 46d) contained three bucket urns, one with perforamtions on either side of a crack as if to bind it together. Some of the urns from these barrows are in the B.M. Warne also records the opening of a large barrow containing 'great stones … placed over the urns, similar to those in the Deverel Barrow.'

Record last edited

Jan 20 2025 3:11PM