Monument record MDO5242 - Round barrow on Houghton North Down, Winterborne Houghton

A mound interpreted as the probable remains of a round barrow. This monument was investigated in 1863, when it was recorded as being 38 feet in diameter with a mound about five feet high. It was found to contain a feature described as a flint cist, with urns containing cremations. The feature is visible as a sub-circular banked and ditched earthwork on Environment Agency lidar imagery and was digitally plotted during the Mid Dorset Downs AIM project.

This barrow is thought to have been opened by J C Mansel-Pleydell in 1863. <1>

This bowl barrow has been destroyed probably through a combination of woodland clearance and ploughing. The area is now under pasture. <2>

A barrow at 80980581 that has now been completely destroyed, was composed mainly of mould; it was 38 ft. in diameter and 5 ft. high. At the centre 1 ft. down, was a 'flint cist' with five urns containing cremations; a sixth urn with a cremation lay nearby; at least three of these urns were globular. Two Wessex biconical urns in Dorset County Museum are probably from the same barrow. <3>

The feature is visible as a sub-circular banked and ditched earthwork on Environment Agency lidar imagery where it comprises a just over 14m in diameter mound and a 0.85m wide outer ditch (EA 2018). It was digitally plotted during the Mid Dorset Downs AIM project.

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

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey map 1:10,560, 1968 (Map). SDO18658.

(ST 80970581) Tumulus

<2> Quinnell, N V, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigator's Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 22-AUG-55 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<3> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 2, 298-99 (Monograph). SDO136.

'… The fourth, probably a barrow at 80980581 that has now been completely destroyed, was composed mainly of mould; it was 38 ft. in diameter and 5 ft. high. At the centre, 1 ft. down, was a 'flint cist' with five urns containing cremations; a sixth urn with a cremation lay nearby; at least three of these urns were globular (Arch. J. CXIX (1962), 57). Two Wessex biconical urns in D.C.M. (Nos. 143, 144) are probably from the same barrow.'

<3.1> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1884, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club 5, 32 (Serial). SDO4.

<4> National Record of the Historic Environment, 205574 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Dec 30 2025 1:30PM