Monument record MDO5087 - Round barrow, Tarrant Launceston

A probable Bronze Age bowl barrow, additional to those initially recorded as the Hyde Hill Plantation cemetery group. It is visible as a very slight rise measuring less than 0.2m high with a diameter of 15m. Truncated by ploughing. Not initially identified as the 1940s aerial photographs used showed the area as woodland. Recorded after woodland clearance in 1986. This monument may have been investigated by antiquarian Charles Warne in 1840.

This bowl barrow is part of the Hyde Hill Plantation barrow cemetery (see ST 91 SE 61) on the crest of a chalk ridge between two streams, on Launceston Down, 1200m south-east of Manor Farm. It is one of four ploughed out barrows on a south-facing slope forming an extended line roughly aligned north-west to south-east on the west side of the cemetery. Now lying in an arable field, it was formerly in woodland. The round barrow was visible as a very slight rise when visited in 2000 for MPPA, measuring less than 0.20m high, and with a diameter of 15m. Geophysical survey and excavation may determine the extent of survival and potential of the quarry ditch and mound. Ground photo with MPPA archive report. <4>

The probable Bronze Age bowl barrow referred to above <4> is not visible on the available 1940s aerial photographs due to its location in woodland. A large dark macula cropmark is visible on aerial photographs taken in 1988, which could be the result of the mound material being spread by ploughing once the woodland was converted to arable. <2>

Other round barrows in the cemetery are recorded as ST 91 SE 193 to 204, 233, 234, 236 and ST 91 SW 116.

<1> Trust for Wessex Archaeology, 1986, Dorset Barrow Survey (Index). SDO134.

‘Seen in an arable field SW of the present boundary of Hyde Hill Plantation. The plantation once covered this part of the field according to OS (Map/Ordnance Survey/1961/1:25000 First Series) and consequently has not been subjected to ploughing as long as other parts of the field. The mound is 15.0m in diameter and 0.2m high. Visible as a faint swelling in a field regularly ploughed, newly ploughed and planted in grass when visited. Severely reduced and spread by ploughing. 225 paces along plantation fence from NW corner, 12 paces SW of fence.’

<2> Ordnance Survey, 24-APR-1988, NMR OS/88055 188-189, NMR OS/88055 188-189 24-APR-1988 (Aerial Photograph). SDO18378.

<3> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1989, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1988, 143 (Serial). SDO88.

‘ST 9503 1042. 15.0 m dia., 0.2 m high, ploughed down in arable. Once part of the plantation.’

<4> English Heritage, English Heritage Alternative Action Report, SJ Lobb, MPPA, Mar-2000 (Scheduling record). SDO18279.

<5> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1408629 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Apr 17 2024 10:29AM