Monument record MDO5259 - Bell barrow north west of West Down Barn, Winterborne Kingston

One of two adjacent bell barrows on the parish boundary between Winterborne Kingston and Winterborne Whitechurch. When first recorded this monument was described as a bowl barrow around 12 metres in diameter with a mound about 1 metre high, surrounded by a ditch. It is now thought to be a bell barrow. The mound of this barrow was damaged when the nearby hedge and track were bulldozed in 1968. Following this the southern part of the barrow was excavated by D A White for the Ministry of Works. The site of this barrow is visible as earthworks on lidar imagery and was digitally plotted during the Dorset Middle Stour AIM.

'A' and 'B' Two bowl barrows, both 16 paces diameter and 4 1/2ft high with hollow centres. <2>

SY 840983 Two round barrows excavated by MOW in 1968. <3>

'B' (26) SY 84059833 Bowl barrow, 40ft diameter and 4 1/2ft high has been severely mutilated by a trench driven through its centre. <4>

'B' Grinsell's Winterborne Kingston bowl barrow No 15 (SY 84069832) had been previously robbed although a fine flint knife was found near its centre in 1968. No further information on excavation. <5>

A-B: Both these barrows are covered with dense vegetation making close inspection difficult, but they appear to be elongated mounds, with no visible ditches, which have been reduced by ploughing at their margins. … 'B'. SY 84059833. Bowl barrow, approximate diameter 10.0 by 6.0 metres, height 1.4 metres. Resurveyed at 1:2500 on M.S.D. <6>

The site of this barrow is visible as earthworks on lidar imagery and was digitally plotted during the Dorset Middle Stour AIM. <8>

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1902 (Map). SWX1540.

('A' SY 84039831; 'B' SY 84059832) Tumuli (NR)

<2> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 150 (Monograph). SDO132.

<3> Council for British Archaeology, 1968, Council for British Archaeology: Group 12 (Wessex) & Group 13 (South West): Archaeological review, 8 (Serial). SWX9211.

<4> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 2, 303-304 (Monograph). SDO136.

‘These monuments lie in the N. and W. of the parish; most of them have been damaged, some severely so, by ploughing. … Nos. (25) and (26) are possibly the barrows 'on South Down Farm' from which came two globular urns (C.T.D., Pl. VI; Arch. J. CXIX (1962), 57). … Two barrows N.W. of West Down, lie on a gentle E. slope, near the top of a broad spur, at about 260 ft. O.D. The hedge marking the parish boundary with Winterborne Whitechurch crosses their northern edge and both mounds are thickly overgrown. … (26) Bowl (84059833), 30 yds. N.E. of (25), has been severely mutilated by a trench driven through its centre. Diam. 40 ft., ht. 4½ ft.’

<5> White, D A, 1973, The Excavation Of A Bell Barrow at Winterborne Kingston, Dorset; Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society (Article in serial). SDO16707.

<6> Barton, J G, Various, Field Investigators Comments JGB, F1 JGB 15/05/1981 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

<7> National Record of the Historic Environment, 455995 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

<8> Environment Agency, 16-NOV-2021, LIDAR Environment Agency DTM (Aerial Photograph). SDO18034.

Record last edited

Sep 9 2024 4:03PM