Monument record MDO5616 - Long barrow on Gussage Hill, Gussage St Michael

A long barrow situated inside the Dorset Cursus and at right angles to it, and within a later settlement. In 1975 this monument was recorded as an earthwork 155 feet long with a tapering mound 75 feet wide at its widest point and 10 feet high at the south east end, inside a U-shaped ditch. A hollow at one end suggests that the barrow has been the subject of antiquarian investigation.

A Neolithic long barrow situated on the crest of Gussage Hill. The barrow is situated less than 200 metres southeast of the Dorset Cursus and is broadly aligned with the long barrow ST 91 SE 9 which is located within the interior of the cursus. The shared alignment perhaps indicates that this barrow also predates construction of this part of the cursus. It is also situated among the earthworks of the later prehistoric settlement ST 91 SE 3. Aligned northwest-southeast, RCHME described the mound as being 155 feet long, 75 feet across and 10 feet high at the southeast end. The northwest end is slightly lower. A large hollow is visible in the southeast end and presumably represents the site of an unrecorded antiquarian excavation. The mound is surrounded by a ditch that continues around the southeast end but not the northwest end. The ditch measured 22 feet across and up to 3.5 feet deep. See the Dorset Cursus record (Linear 41) and associated monuments for further details and sources relating to the "cursus complex".

<1> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 79 (Monograph). SDO132.

<2> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey map 6 inches to 1 mile, 1963 (Map). SDO11924.

(ST 99471359) Long Barrow (NR)

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1975, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume V (East), 25 (Monograph). SDO129.

‘Of the five certain long barrows in the parish, four ((11), (12), (14), (15)) lie close to the Cursus (9) and are clearly associated with it. Together with the round barrows they compose two barrow groups, respectively on Thickthorn Down and Gussage Hill. … (15) Long Barrow (99471360), on Gussage Hill, 265 yds. S.E. of (14) and similarly sited and aligned, has a mound 155 ft. long, 75 ft. across, and 10 ft. high at the S.E. end and slightly lower on the N.W. (Plate 48). A large hollow has been dug into the S. E. end. The mound stands within a ditch, U-shaped in plan, open at the N.W., and 22 ft. across and up to 3½ ft. deep.'

<4> Barrett, J, Bradley, R and Green, M, 1991, Landscape, Monuments and Society: the prehistory of Cranborne Chase (Monograph). SDO16633.

<5> Kinnes, I, 1992, Non-Megalithic Long Barrows and Allied Structures in the British Neolithic, Volume No. 52. [Cranborne Chase: ST 14] (Monograph). SDO10065.

<6> McOmish, D and Tuck, C, 2002, The Dorset Cursus (Unpublished document). SDO16471.

<7> National Record of the Historic Environment, 210019 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Feb 23 2023 10:01AM