Monument record MDO47630 - Bowl barrow, Lodge Hill, Canford Heath, Poole

Bowl Barrow on the southern edge of Canford heath, destroyed by gravel extraction after complete excavation in 1951. The mound was made from sand and gravel and had been surrounded and possibly retained by a penannular post ring. No trace of human remains survived. The barrow is visible as a low indistinct mound covered by scrubby heathland vegetation on 1940's aerial photographs and was digitally plotted from these sources by the Dorset Stour NMP project.

NMP SUMMARY: A ditched bowl barrow on Canford Heath, damaged with a hollow on top. The barrow is visible on current Lidar imagery and was digitally plotted from this source by the Dorset Stour NMP project.


The barrow at SZ 04229511, threatened by gravel-working, was excavated in June/July 1951 for the Ministry of Works.

The mound was 30' in diameter and 3-4' high.It was composed of sand and gravel; there was no encircling quarry ditch. The mound had been surrounded and possibly retained by a pennanular post-ring, with on the south-east an entrance way flanked by posts.

"At the centre a shallow excavation (grave?) had been made into the original ground surface, the upcast gravel and turf being neatly placed in separate heaps nearby.

In the body of the barrow was part of a tree-trunk approximately 3'6" long. It is possible that it had been used as a bier, or to carry material for building the mound. No human remains were found". This was possibly due to the acidity of the soil. <2>

Full report of 1951 excavation. <3>

Described as a "henge-type" barrow. This bowl barrow has been destroyed with the extension of the gravel pit. The foreman remembered the 1951 excavation but knew of no further finds from the pit. <4>

A heather covered bowl barrow, diameter 15.0m., height 1.0m. Around the west and south-west quadrants there is a ditch which averages 1.3m. Wide and 0.2m. Deep. There is a small hole in the top of the mound. <7>

The barrow is visible on current Lidar imagery <7>. The feature comprises a slightly elliptical mound 14.6m long by 10.5m wide. A cresentic partial ditch between 1m and 1.6m wide is visible on its south-west side. The feature is located on the edge of a low south-facing scarp and is bounded on its north side by a vehicular access road, which may slightly truncate it.

The feature was digitally plotted from current Lidar imagery by the Dorset Stour NMP project.

Description from record MDO6745:
The barrow at SZ 04229511, threatened by gravel-working, was excavated in June/July 1951 for the Ministry of Works.
The mound was 30' in diameter and 3-4' high.It was composed of sand and gravel; there was no encircling quarry ditch. The mound had been surrounded and possibly retained by a pennanular post-ring, with on the south-east an entrance way flanked by posts.

"At the centre a shallow excavation (grave?) had been made into the original ground surface, the upcast gravel and turf being neatly placed in separate heaps nearby.

In the body of the barrow was part of a tree-trunk approximately 3'6" long. It is possible that it had been used as a bier, or to carry material for building the mound. No human remains were found". This was possibly due to the acidity of the soil. <1>

Described as a "henge-type" barrow. This bowl barrow has been destroyed with the extension of the gravel pit. The foreman remembered the 1951 excavation but knew of nofurther finds from the pit. <2>

Full report of 1951 excavation. <3>

A round barrow on Canford Heath, which was competely excavated in 1951, in advance of gravel quarrying.

The mound of the barrow was 30 feet in diameter and between 3 and 4 feet high and had evidently been built of sand and gravel collected in the vicinity as there was no encircling quarry ditch. It had been surrounded and possibly retained by a penannular post ring.

At the centre a shallow excavation (grave?) had been made in the original ground surface, the upcast gravel and turf being neatly placed in separate heaps nearby. In the body of the barrow was part of a tree trunk approximately 3ft 6ins long. It is possible that it had been used as a bier or to carry material for the mound. No human remains were found, but as the barrow showed no sign of previous disturbance it is possible that it held an unaccompanied cremation all traces of which have been dissolved in the acid soil. <1-4>

The barrow is visible as a low indistinct mound 10.8m in diameter and covered by scrubby heathland vegetation on 1940s aerial photographs. <5>. It was digitally plotted from these sources by the Dorset Stour NMP project.

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, Provisional edition 1938 (Map). SWX1540.

(SZ 04229511) Tumulus (NR)

<2> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1952, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1951, 103 (Serial). SDO51.

The excavation of a round barrow of 'henge' type on Canford Heath, Poole ; nat. grid ref. SZ(40)/04229511.

A round barrow threatened by extension of gravel working on Canford Heath was completely excavated in June-July, with the permission of Canford Estates Ltd., on behalf of the Ministry of Works by Paul Ashbee and A. M. ApSimon, who send these details.

The barrow was situated above the 200 ft. contour on the slope between the higher part of the heath and the Bourne bottom, and about 3/4 m. from the barrows, also in heathland, excaved at Wallis Down. Nearer barrows which existed at West Howe to the N. E. were excavated by J. B. Calkin after the first world war. The mound was 30 ft. in diameter and between 3 and 4 ft. high and had evidently been built of sand and gravel collected in the vicinity as there was no encirclying quarry ditch. I t had been surrounded and possibly retained by a penannular post ring which had a short entrance-way flanked by posts on the S.E., and thus compares with the two barrows at Wallis Down.

At the centre a shallow excavation (grave?) had been made into the original ground surface, the upcast gravel and turf being neatly placed in separate heaps nearby. In the body of the barrow was part of a tree trunk approximately 3 ft. 6 ins. long. It is possible that it had been used as a bier or to carry material for building the mound. No human remains were found, but as the barrow showed no signs of previous disturbance it is possible that it held an unaccompanied cremation all traces of which have been dissolved in the acid soil. It is hoped that phosphate determination of sil frim the 'grave' may prive the original presence of a body, and Mr. I. W. Cornwall of the Institute of Archaeology is investigateing the question of the repodsolisation of the mound. The wood object was treated and removed for further examination.

<3> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 15-NOV-1955 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<4> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 15/11/1955 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<5> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1956, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1954, 39-50 (Serial). SDO54.

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

(SZ 04229511) Tumulus (NR)

Bowl barrows. (2)

(a) (SZ 03449615) Diameter 47ft. Height 4.5ft. Ditch slight but well defined, unopened.

(b) (SZ 03439613) Diameter 45ft. Height 2ft. No ditch, depressed flat top. (3)

A: A heather covered bowl barrow, diameter 15.0m., height 1.6m., with unsurveyable traces of a ditch, Shallow surface diggings - apparently old ones - extend almost up to the edge of the mound on the south-west and south-east sides.

B: This barrow has been destroyed, probably by the surface diggings 0.3m. - 0.5m. Deep, which now cover its site. (4)

(SZ 03439613) Tumulus (NR) (Site of) (NAT) (SZ 03449615) Tumulus (NR) (5)

RCHM (6) state that barrow 'A' to the north-east is destroyed and barrow 'B' is extant, the reverse of that stated by auth.4.

The surviving barrow is 43 feet in diameter and 5 feet high, hollowed on top, now damaged and isolated in a gravel pit.

Scheduled (one of a group of barrows). (7). (6-7)

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date) OS 6" 1938
( 2) by L V Grinsell 1959 Dorset barrows
( 3) Oral information, correspondence (not archived) or staff comments
( 4) Field Investigators Comments F1 14/11/1955
( 5) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date) OS 1:10 000 1974
( 6) Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England) 1970 An inventory of historical monuments in the County of Dorset. Volume two : south-east [in three parts] part 3 Page(s)448
( 7) by Department of the Environment, Ancient Monuments and Historic Buildings London 1978 List of ancient monuments in England: Volume 1, Northern England; Volume 2, Southern England; Volume 3, East Anglia and the Midlands 2 Page(s)67
( 8) Scheduled Monument Notification 14-JUL-1999
( 9) Scheduled Monument Notification Descheduling 28-SEP-1999

<7> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 448 (Monograph). SDO150.

(365) Bowl (SZ 09 NW ; 04229511) above 200 ft. contour on S. edge of Canford Heath plateau. Destroyed by gravel quarry after complete excavation by P. Ashbee in 1951. The mound, diam. about 30 ft., ht. 3 ft., was of soil and gravel, heaped on site possibly stripped of topsoil. Nineteen post and stake-holes lay about 2 3/4 ft. apart in a rough arc on the N.E. and E., all but wtw beneath the mound and all but one 4 1/2 ins. to 5 ins. deep ; three were slotes about 6 ins. by 4 ins. On W. and S., are continued as two sections of irregular and shallow trench, linked by threee stake-holes and perhaps formed from similar holes by differential weathering. A flanked entrance lay on S.E. No burial occurred in central oval pit, 5 ft., by 4 ft. and a few ins. deep, with pile of gravel oto E. presumabley dug from it. Immediately S.W., though in body of mound, was about 4 ft. of carbonised hollowed oak-tree-trunk. Only other finds were 140 flint flakesand cores over top of mound. (P.P.S. XIX (1953), 131-3 ; Dorset Procs. LXXVI (1954), 39-50; Ashbee, op cit. in (364), 44 56, 60-5.)

<8> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey 1:10,000 scale map, 1974 (Map). SDO17396.

(SZ 04229511) Tumulus (NR) (Site of) (NAT)

<9> Royal Air Force, 12-DEC-46, RAF/CPE/UK/1893 RS 4204-5 (Aerial Photograph). SDO16063.

<10> Environment Agency, XX-XXX-2015, Environment Agency DTM Lidar 50cm (Aerial Photograph). SDO15306.

<11> Bowl Barrow, Canford Heath, Poole (Excavation archive). SDO20408.

<12> National Record of the Historic Environment, 458034 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Dec 12 2024 3:47PM