Monument record MDO5732 - Bowl barrow, one of the High Lea Farm Group, Hinton Martell

One of a loose cluster of at least ten round barrows visible as slight earthworks and crop marks on aerial photographs. In 1975 this monument was recorded as being around 95 feet in diameter with a mound about 4½ feet high. The double-concentric ring ditch is visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs and was digitally plotted during the Dorset Stour NMP.

A rapid examination of air photography suggests the presence of at least 14 possible additional barrows, of Prehistoric or Roman date, visible as ring ditch cropmarks at:- ST 9996 0645, ST 9999 0642, SU 0004 0645, SU 0003 0641, SU 0008 0643, SU 0012 0642, SU 0010 0640, SU 0008 0638 (double), SU 0004 0634, SU 0019 0637, SU 0024 0637, SU 0022 0628, SU 0016 0623 and SU 0014 0622. <2>

NMR ST 9906/1 was probably a vertical photograph and is no longer accessible through that number. Recent aerial photography reveals further Prehistoric or Roman round and oval barrows, ranging from c.6m to c.30m in diameter (the oval barrow is c.30mx15m) and visible at ST 9995 0584, ST 9983 0590, ST 9981 0593, ST 9983 0598, ST 9986 0598, ST 9993 0610, ST 9993 0610, ST 9991 0610, ST 9992 0609, ST 9989 0612 and ST 9989 0606 (the oval barrow). Further possible round barrow sites are visible as light maculae around ST 998 056 and ST 998 055. <3>

A double-concentric ring ditch is visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs and was digitally plotted during the Dorset Stour NMP <4>. The outer ring is 38m across and the inner, 23m across. It is marked a 'Tumulus' on the OS 1st edition map. <5>

<1> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1975, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume V (East), 31 (Monograph). SDO129.

‘High Lea Farm Group comprises at least ten barrows sited in a field, about 135 ft. above O.D., on a gentle N.W. slope falling to the R. Allen. Only (17) and (26) survive as earthworks; the others form a scatter in the same field and are visible as soil-marks on air photographs (N.M.R., ST 9906/1). (17) Bowl (99930613), in the S.W. corner of the field; diam. 95 ft., ht 4½ ft.’

<2> Miller, Andrew, 1993, RCHME: AP Primary Recording Project, 05/02/1993 (Unpublished document). SWX1708.

<3> 1996, RCHME Aerial Reconnaissance, 25/07/1996 (Aerial Photograph). SWX3189.

<3.1> NMR 4527: 15-6, 18 (Aerial Photograph). SDO19348.

<3.1> NMR ST 9905/9-13 (Aerial Photograph). SDO19346.

<3.2> NMR 4437: 03-7 (Aerial Photograph). SDO19349.

<3.2> ST 9906/5-9 (Aerial Photograph). SDO19347.

<4> Ordnance Survey, 24-JUL-1995, OS/95633 V 224-5 (Aerial Photograph). SDO15890.

<5> Ordnance Survey, 1864, 1886, Ordnance Survey 25-inch map, epoch one (Map). SDO10239.

<6> National Record of the Historic Environment, 213043 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Oct 22 2024 2:52PM