Monument record MDO5705 - Bowl barrow north of Belle Vue Plantation, Hampreston

A bowl barrow around 15 metres in diameter and half a metre high, surrounded by ditch about 0.8 metres wide. Part of the barrow was excvated in 1997, and this showed that the mound had been built by covering turves with soil from the ditch. An irregular flattened mound is visible at this approximate location on current Lidar imagery and this may be the associated with the barrow recorded here. It was digitally plotted from this source by the Dorset Stour NMP project.

(SZ 07429885) A bowl barrow, 19 paces in diameter and 3ft. high, "Found by Lt. Col. Drew who showed it to me in 1934. Site only approximate" <1>

SZ 07209891. A bowl barrow with no visible ditch. The mound, flat topped and irregularly spread, is 0.7m. high and 14.0m. in diameter. It is heather covered.
No trace of a barrow was seen in the immediate vicinity of the reference given in authority 1. <2>

Bowl barrow at Holmwood. Similar information to (1), but grid reference given as SZ 07359880 approx. <3>

This barrow cannot now be distinguished. The site is in an arable field and the vague rise discernible seems more a sand cap than a barrow. <4>

Not located. <5>

SZ 072990. Round barrow north of Belle Vue Plantation - scheduled. <6>

An irregular flattened mound is visible at this approximate location on current Lidar imagery <8>.

The feature comprises a very low flattened mound approximately 20m by 18m, with a smaller elliptical mound on the northeast side of this, approximately 11.6m by 7.7m. The feature is contained within a circular enclosure on the north side of Casterbridge Road; Google Earth Street View shows the area to be slightly raised ground, concurrent with the Lidar imagery <8 and 9>. This feature may be the barrow recorded here, although the location of the barrow is currently recorded as being 20m further to the SW, placing it under the current Casterbridge Road. The feature was digitally plotted from current Lidar imagery by the Dorset Stour NMP project.

<1> Grinsell, L V, 1935-54, Dorset Barrows 1935-54 Manuscript (Unpublished document). SWX1556.

<2> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 26-NOV-51 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<3> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows (Monograph). SDO132.

<4> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F2 NVQ 16-AUG-73 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<5> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1975, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume V (East), 29 (Monograph). SDO129.

<6> Department of the Environment, 1978, Department of the Environment (IAM) Ancient Monuments of England (Vol 2) (Monograph). SWX1687.

<7> Cox, P W and Chandler, J, 1994, A proposed Development at Poor Common, West Parley, Dorset: Archaeological Assessment (Unpublished document). SDO14224.

‘7.1 The Scheduled Ancient Monument, Barrow no. M95h
It has not been possible to located this site within the study area. The location shown on the DSMR record map (Fig. 5) lies approximately 100m south of the recorded OS grid reference at SZ07209891, but this reference is only ever likely to have been approximate. Indeed, previous researchers have experienced difficulties in finding the site. The monument, which is recorded as “heather covered” in 1955 and “in arable field”in 1973 (NAR record card SZ09NE, 40) could not be located by the English Heritage Field Monument Warden in 1984 (the latest visit recorded in the DSMR).
The recorded dimensions of the barrow from a field visit in 1955 indicate that it survived to 0.7m in height and 14m in diameter. There are no obvious signs of ground disturbance in the recorded positions of the barrow that might have caused its destruction since that time (including no arable agriculture in the vicinity) and it would therefore seem reasonable to conclude either that the barrow lies within dense gorse undergrowth or is mis-located within the development area. Two adjacent shallow rings were noted (September 1994) in an area of open grass near the recorded location of the barrow, but these are considered to be of modern origin.’

<8> XX-XXX-2015, Environment Agency DTM Lidar 1m (Aerial Photograph). SDO15442.

<9> Google Earth, 2017, Google Earth 2017 (Aerial Photograph). SDO15388.

<10> National Record of the Historic Environment, 457798 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Oct 7 2024 11:07AM