Monument record MDO5053 - Bowl barrow, one of the Hyde Hill Plantation Group, Tarrant Launceston

A Bronze Age bowl barrow, known as barrow "D" of the Hyde Hill Plantation group. It comprises of a circular mound 1m high which measures 13.5m in diameter surrounded by a ring ditch, to produce an overall diameter of 16.5m.

See ST 91 SE 61 <2, 3>

The Bronze Age round barrow referred to as barrow "D" within the Hyde Hill Plantation group (ST 91 SE 61 / UID: 210105 (see also ST 91 SE 193 to 204)) is visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs. The barrow is centred at ST 9511 1039 and measures 16.5m in diameter. It comprises of a circular mound which measures 13.5m in diameter which is surrounded by a ring ditch. <1>

This barrow was originally recorded as part of ST 91 SE 61.

<1> Royal Air Force, 17-JAN-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1934 2149-2150, NMR RAF/CPE/UK/1934 2149-2150 17-JAN-1947 (Aerial Photograph). SDO18433.

<2> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 135 (Monograph). SDO132.

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1972, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume IV (North), 106-7 (Monograph). SDO99.

'The Hyde Hill Plantation Group comprises thirteen barrows (23-35) in two concentrations in and S.E. of the plantation; they lie between 340 ft. and 360 ft. above O.D. along the crest of a broad Chalk ridge between the Tarrant and Crichel Brooks. Most of them have been severely damaged by ploughing and (28), (29), (31) and (35) have been obliterated. Two barrows excavated by Warne in 1840 probably lay in this group; one of them yielded a primary cremation under a flint cairn, the other yielded only charcoal and ashes (C.T.D., Pt. 1, Nos. 39 and 40). The 'Launceston Sepulchralia' examined by Warne in 1840 probably lay in this area; it appears to have been a cremation cemetery, with the cremations in groups of holes in the chalk, each group being covered with a layer of closely packed flint nodules (C.T.D., Pt. 1, 57-8; Arch. J., CVIII (1951), 14, note 1) … (26) Bowl (95111038), immediately S. of the plantation; diam. 40 ft., ht. 3½ ft.'

<4> Bishop, Sharon, 2009, Tarrant Launceston 15 & Environs. Aerial Photograph Survey and Analysis, Object Number: MD002384 (Unpublished document). SDO12459.

<5> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1306194 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Jan 22 2025 4:52PM