Monument record MDO5078 - Bowl barrow, Tarrant Launceston

A bowl barrow 600 metres south of Plantation Farm. It was excavated by S and C Piggott in 1938 (their barrow 10). At the time, the mound (which had suffered considerable damage by burrowing rabbits) measured 55 feet in diameter and stood to a height of 4.3 feet above the natural chalk. The mound was surrounded by a ditch circa 2 feet deep. In the interior, just west of centre, was a square pit circa 3.8 feet across and 0.5 feet deep dug into the ground surface below the mound. According to the Piggotts, "this was filled with material largely derived from the surface and rabbit scrapes, but was undoubtedly an original feature". At the centre, below the mound and close to the square pit was another pit, this time circular, containing a large, upright and almost complete Deverel-Rimbury urn. Within the urn were cremated bones, and a thin layer of carbonized material which probably represented traces of a wooden cover.

(ST 95591190) Tumulus (NR). <4>

Ditched bowl barrow 18 paces diameter by 4 1/2 feet high, excavated by S and C M Piggott in 1938. It contained a primary cremation in a barrel urn. <2, 5>

<1> Society of Antiquaries of London, 1944, Archaeologia 90, Volume 90, p61-2. Excavation of Barrows on Crichel and Launceston Downs, Dorset. [pp81-126] (Serial). SDO16830.

<2> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, p135 (Monograph). SDO132.

<4> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey map 6 inches to 1 mile, 1963 (Map). SDO11924.

<5> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1972, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume IV (North), 107 (Monograph). SDO99.

<6> DCMS, 1997, Scheduled Monument Notification 1997, 07-Feb-97 (Scheduling record). SDO17426.

<7> National Record of the Historic Environment, 210094 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Nov 11 2024 4:00PM