Monument record MDO5184 - Round barrow on Ringmoor, Turnworth

A mound interpreted as a possible round barrow, and situated within a prehistoric field system. The feature is visible as a small sub-circular banked earthwork on aerial photographs and Environment Agency lidar imagery. It was digitally plotted during the Mid Dorset Downs AIM project.

('A'-ST80810856; 'B'-ST80820852) Within the largest enclosure on Ringmoor are two tumuli. (Plotted from plan. 'B' is published as a mound on OS 6" 1902). <1>

'A' and 'B' are two grass covered mounds situated in the vicinity of an Iron Age/Romano-British settlement, and on an east-facing slope, some 50ft below a ridge.

'A' - An elongated, almost triangular mound, approximately NE-SW on the long axis. It measures 9.0m x 5.0m., with a height of 0.4m. There is a slight trace of a ditch.

It would seem hazardous to describe these mounds as barrows, for while they could possibly be mutilated bowl barrows, they could be field clearance mounds or in some other way associated with the settlement, and without excavation the classification is uncertain. <2>

Shown on RCHM plan (opposite p 291) in association with the settlement on Ringmoor, but not described in text. <3>

The feature is visible as a small sub-circular banked earthwork on aerial photographs and Environment Agency lidar imagery (NMR 1994; EA 2018). It forms the northernmost feature of several mounds in the vicinity and it is uncertain that this was a round barrow, possibly a clearance mound of some description. It was digitally plotted during the Mid Dorset Downs AIM project.

National Monuments Record, 10-JAN-2007, NMR 25409/34 (Aerial Photograph). SDO21624.

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

‘Visible as a low rise in permanent pasture grazed by sheep when visited. In a National Trust reserve. Surrounding settlement earthworks still clear. No change from above description. Irregular shape may be the result of antiquarian excavation. Papworth MDJ, TWA 3 January 1986.’

Environment Agency, xx-xxx-2018, Environment Agency National Lidar Programme DTM 1M (Aerial Photograph). SDO21483.

<1> Warne, C, 1862, Ancient Dorset (1st Edition), 20 (Monograph). SWX3049.

<2> Quinnell, N V, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigator's Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 17-AUG-55 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 1, 291-2 (Monograph). SDO146.

<4> Historic England, National Record of the Historic Environment, 205559 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Dec 30 2025 3:26PM