Monument record MDO6015 - Bowl barrow, one of the Badbury Rings Group, Shapwick

A Bronze Age bowl barrow, one of a group of several near Badbury Rings. In 1975 this monument was reported as being around 60 feet in diameter with a mound about 3 feet high. The barrow is visible as earthworks on aerial photographs and lidar imagery and was digitially plotted during the Dorset Middle Stour AI&M. The record for this monument has been enhanced with support from Wessex Water.

A group of round barrows W of Badbury Rings:

'A' ST 96040300. Bowl barrow, 60ft diameter and 3ft high immediately adjacent to the Romano-British settlement (ST 90 SE 39) (RCHM No 50, Grinsell's Shapwick No 11, Crawford's mound 'S').

'B' ST 96060304. Possible barrow consisting of an oval-shaped mound 30ft by 40ft and 1 foot high damaged by modern tracks and cut by the side ditch of Roman Road (RR 4c) (RCHM no 51, Grinsell's Shapwick No 10, Crawford's mound 'T').

'C' ST 96100311. Bowl barrow, 30ft diameter and 1 1/2ft high. (RCHM No 52, Grinsell's Shapwick No 9, Crawford's mound 'K').

'D' ST 96200310. Bowl barrow, 40ft diameter and 3ft high immediately within the outer rampart of Badbury Rings. (RCHM No 55; Grinsells Shapwick No 15; Crawford's mound V)

'E' ST 96200294. Crawford's probable barrow 'W' partly covered by theramparts of Badbury Rings. (Not mentioned by RCHM or Grinsell). (2-4)

Barrows 'A' to 'E' were field investigated in 1954.

A faint unsurveyable ditch surrounding Barrow 'D' was visible in all quadrants except the W when it was overlain by the outer rampart of Badbury Rings. Barrow 'E' consisted of a semi-circular mound, 15.0m N-S and 9.0m E-W with a maximum height of 1.0m. The unusual shape was thought to be due to quarrying for material during construction of Badbury Rings. The evidence suggested that the mound was the remains of a Bronze Age bowl barrow. (5)

Barrow `E' surveyed by RCHME in April 1993. As described by authority 5. Located on W side of middle rampart, some 30m S of southern entrance to barbican. E side has been cut by the outer lip of the rampart ditch. Some quarrying has taken place on the W side. (6)

The barrow is visible as earthworks on aerial photographs and lidar imagery (4-5) and was digitially plotted during the Dorset Middle Stour AI&M. It comprises a subcircular mound (15m across) with no sign of an external ring ditch.

National Record of the Historic Environment, 209534 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1902 (Map). SWX1540.

(Centred ST 961030) Tumuli (NR) (three shown)

Donachie, J D, 1994, RCHME Field Survey Report: Badbury Rings Hillfort, Shapwick, Dorset (Monograph). SDO19358.

Papworth, M, 1994, Shapwick Parish, Kingston Lacy Estate, Wessex Region, 54 (Unpublished document). SDO14228.

A Bronze Age bowl barrow visible as a prominent rise 15.5m dia., and 1.4m high with no visible quarry ditch. A flattened area on the north-east side may indicate the site of an unrecorded antiquarian excavation into the burial mound. It lies south-west of the Romano-British site (112,030) and south-east of the Roman road from Dorchester to Old Sarum (112,047). One of a group of 12 round barrows.

Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 26-MAR-54 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<1> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 130, 169 (Monograph). SDO132.

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1975, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume V (East), 64 (Monograph). SDO129.

‘At least twenty-six barrows are known, but many have been flattened by ploughing and now appear only as soil-marks or crop-marks on air photographs. … Badbury Rings Group comprises nine barrows (47–55), immediately W. and S.W. of Badbury Rings (Plate 62); they lie on undulating downland between 250 ft. and 275 ft. above O.D. It was once thought that (45–47) were Roman (Wessex from the Air, 58–61, Pl. IV), but this has now been disproved (Ant. J., XLV (1965), 41–7). … (50) Bowl (96040300), S.E. of the Roman road and immediately adjacent to Romano-British Settlement (31); diam. 60 ft., ht. 3 ft.’

<4> Environment Agency, 16-NOV-2021, LIDAR Environment Agency DTM (Aerial Photograph). SDO18034.

<5> Royal Air Force, 28-MAY-1947, RAF CPE/UK/2102 RS 4249 (Aerial Photograph). SDO18090.

Record last edited

Jul 29 2024 3:18PM