Monument record MDO5059 - Bowl barrow, one of the Hyde Hill Plantation Group, Tarrant Launceston

A Bronze Age bowl barrow, known as barrow "K" of the Hyde Hill Plantation group. It was described by RCHME as a flat-topped mound, reduced by ploughing, and measuring some 48 feet in diameter and 3.5 feet in height, with traces of a surrounding ditch.

ST 95421020. Earthwork remains of a bowl barrow, part of the Hyde Hill plantation group. Scheduled. <4>

The Bronze Age round barrow referred to as barrow "K" within the Hyde Hill Plantation group (see ST 91 SE 61 / UID: 210105) is visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs. The barrow is centred at ST 9542 1020 and measures 20m in diameter. It comprises a circular mound that measures 18m in diameter which is surrounded by a ring ditch. An oval hollow in the top of the mound could indicate that it has been partially excavated and a small circular mound immediately to the south-east could perhaps be the spoil. Other barrows in the cemetery are recorded as ST 91 SE 193 to 204, 233, 234, 236 and ST 91 SW 116. <1>

This barrow was formerly 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) … (32) Bowl (95421020), a flat-topped mound; diam., diminished by ploughing, 48 ft., ht. 3½ ft.; traces of surrounding ditch.'

<4> DCMS, 2002, Scheduled Monument Notification EH Scheduling amendment, 24JULY-2002, 24-Jul-02 (Scheduling record). SDO17857.

<5> Bishop, Sharon, 2009, Tarrant Launceston 15 & Environs. Aerial Photograph Survey and Analysis, Object Number MD002384 (Unpublished document). SDO12459.

<6> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1306230 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Jan 20 2025 11:07AM