Monument record MDO6016 - Bowl barrow, one of the Badbury Rings Group, Shapwick

A Bronze Age bowl barrow, one of a group of several near Badbury Rings; this one has been cut into by the side ditch of the Roman road from Old Sarum to Dorchester. In 1975 this monument was recorded as being an oval around 30 feet by 40 feet with a mound about one foot 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: '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').

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 (7-8) and was digitially plotted during the Dorset Middle Stour AI&M. It comprises an oval mound (12m by 9m) with no sign of an external ring ditch.

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

Papworth, M, 1994, Shapwick Parish, Kingston Lacy Estate, Wessex Region, 54 (Unpublished document).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

A probable barrow visible as a low rise, 17m north-east to south west and 9.5m north-west to south-east and 0.8m high. It lies on the north-west side of a track which follows the course of the Roman road side ditch (112,047 Dorchester to Old Sarum). AP NMR ST9603/7 was taken in 1924 before the track followed the course of 112,047 and from this it is clear that the damage to 112,020 pre-dates this and was probably caused by the construction of the Roman Road. In 1924 the track ran in the gap between the NW edge of the Roman site 112,030 and the SE side of 112,020. Immediately to the north-east of 112, 020 is another more irregular mound of similar size and alignment and may be the remains of another site damaged by the Roman Road construction. One of a group of twelve barrows.

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1902 (Map). SWX1540.

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

<2> 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). … (51) Barrow ? (96060304), 60 yds. N.E. of (50), has been damaged by modern tracks and is cut by the side ditch of the Roman road. Oval, 30 ft. by 40 ft., ht. 1 ft.’

<3> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 130 (Monograph). SDO132.

<5> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 26-MAR-54 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<6> Donachie, J D, 1994, RCHME Field Survey Report: Badbury Rings Hillfort, Shapwick, Dorset (Monograph). SDO19358.

<7> Alexander Kieller Collection, 14-JUL-1924, ALK 7415/257 (Aerial Photograph). SDO18098.

<8> Environment Agency, 16-NOV-2021, LIDAR Environment Agency DTM (Aerial Photograph). SDO18034.

Record last edited

Jul 29 2024 3:17PM