Monument record MDO5185 - 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 low sub-oval banked and ditched earthwork on 1940s 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.

'B' Roughly circular in plan, with a diameter of 5.5m. The mound is 0.1m high on the NW and 0.4m. high on the SE. It has a small hollow in the centre.

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 low sub-oval banked and ditched earthwork on aerial photographs and Environment Agency lidar imagery (NMR 1994; EA 2018). It forms one 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, 09-MAY-1994, NMR 15029/2 (Aerial Photograph). SDO21623.

Trust for Wessex Archaeology, 1986, Dorset Barrow Survey, Papworth MDJ, TWA 3 January 1986 (Index). SDO134.

‘Visible as a low rise in permanent pasture grazed by sheep when visited. In a National Trust reserve. Earthworks of surrounding settlement still clear. Description of mound as above. The hollow on top may be due to past excavation. 20 paces SE of this mound is another mound not described by OS. This lies adjacent to the public footpath and is roughly circular 4.0m in diameter and 0.4m high.’

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 Quinnell, N V, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigator's Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 17-AUG-55 (Unpublished document).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> National Record of the Historic Environment, 205559 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Dec 30 2025 3:08PM