Monument record MDO5566 - Bowl barrow, one of the Wyke Down Group, Gussage All Saints

A bowl barrow, part of the barrow group on Wyke Down (see SU 01 NW 35 and associated monuments), and located towards the southern end of the group. Listed by RCHME as Gussage All Saints 42 and by Grinsell as Gussage All Saints 23, it was described by RCHME as a mound formerly 70 feet in diameter and 3 feet high, presumably severely damaged if not levelled by ploughing. According to RCHME, air photographs suggest the presence of a dark turf core. Grinsell noted that in 1938 it "showed as core of dark brown mould surrounded by circumferential circle of chalk". Again, presumably, this was AP evidence (?). <1-2>

<1> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 110-1 (Monograph). SDO132.

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1975, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume V (East), 21 (Monograph). SDO129.

'Wyke Down Group comprises seventeen barrows including at least one disc barrow and one bell barrow, in a compact cluster on the gentle S. slope of the down, about 250 ft. above O.D. (Plate 48). All have been damaged by ploughing, most of them severely, and some are visible only on air photographs (58/RAF/3250; 0086; C.U.A.P., NK 4, YN 28; .N.M.R. 9609/1: SU/0015/1/327). (42) Bowl (00781537) appears from air photographs to have a dark, turf core; former diam. 70 ft., ht. 3 ft.'

<3> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1313044 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

May 30 2022 4:50PM