Monument record MDO5685 - Bowl Barrow in the Simon's Ground Group, Ferndown

SU 061001. A number of Late Bronze Age burial urns were found in 1953 at Simon's Ground, Stapehill; it was reported that many more urns and other objects had been found in the past, but not kept. None of the urns recovered intact, apart from one which crumbled as it dried out. Some of the pots contained burnt bone. (1)

SU 06250005. A large Deverell-Rimbury urnfield with over eighty burials, and an immediately adjacent round barrow about 40ft. In diameter, were excavated in 1967. Trial trenching in areas adjacent to barrows revealed the existence of three more barrows, one with at least five secondary cremations in urns. At Simon's Ground, Hampreston. (2)

A group of five barrows excavated, or in the process of being excavated, by Dr. White for the M.P.B.W. `A' SZ 06449987: bowl barrow 20.0m. N-S by 18.5m. Transversly and 1.0m. In height. Group surveyed 1:2500. (3)

Excavations were concluded in 1969; only barrow `A' was not excavated.
A: SZ 06459988. Bowl barrow, 70 feet in diameter.
B: SZ 06429987. Bowl barrow, which comprised a low mound within a penannuar ditch with a causeway on the south-east and measuring 35 feet across overall. At centre was a cremation burial in a urn; outside the ditch on the south was an urnfield. A linear urnfield extended from near the causeway north-east to barrow `A'.
About ninety urns were found. (4,6)

C14 determinations have been made for two of the barrows:
Barrow E (centre) -917 bc I 55 (BM-694)
Barrow E (pits in West part) 741 bc I 58 (BM-696)
Barrow C (Chancel in primary Urn) -604 BC I 47 (BM-692). (7)

Full report on the excavations. (8)

<1> Farrar, R A H, 1954, Archaeological Fieldwork in Dorset in 1953 & 1954. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 96 (Article in serial). SDO9753.

<2> Ministry of Public Buildings and Works, 1969, Excavations Annual Report, 8 (Serial). SDO20593.

<3> Wardale, C F, Various, Field Investigators Comments CFW, F1 CFW 25-MAR-69 (Unpublished document). SWX2704.

<4> Department of the Environment, 1969, Department of the Environment Archaeological Excavations 1969, 7-8 (Serial). SWX2426.

<5> White, D A, 1970, Excavations on Bronze Age and other Barrows in East and South Dorset for the Ministry of Public Buildings and Works. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 175-176 (Article in serial). SDO20592.

<6> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1975, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume V (East), 29 (Monograph). SDO129.

'Simon's Ground Group (36-40) comprises at least five barrows at the edge of a plateau, 100 ft. above O.D., overlooking lower ground to the S. Four barrows were excvated in 1967 and 1968 by Dr. D. A. White, to whom we are indebted for information which follows; (39) has not been excavated. Barrows formerly at about SU 06170005 and SZ 06379992 had been destroyed previously…. (39) Bowl (06459988), 20 yds N.E. of (38), is substantially larger than the adjacent barrows, measuring some 70 ft. in diameter.'

<7> Grinsell, L V, 1982, Dorset Barrows Supplement, 15 Table A (Monograph). SWX1703.

<8> White, D A, 1982, The Bronze Age Cremation Cemeteries at Simon's Ground, Dorset (Monograph). SDO14047.

<9> National Record of the Historic Environment, 457862 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Nov 14 2024 4:48PM