Monument record MDO6020 - Bowl barrow, one of the Badbury Rings Group, Shapwick

A Bronze Age bowl barrow within the outer rampart of Badbury Rings, one of a group of several. In 1975 the RCHME recorded this monument as being around 40 feet in diameter with a mound about 3 feet high. The barrow is visible 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.

(Centred ST 961030) Tumuli (NR) (three shown). (1)

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)

'(55) Bowl (96200310), immediately within the outer rampart of (34); diam. 40 ft., ht. 3 ft.' (1)

A Bronze Age round barrow, surviving as an earthwork is visible on aerial photographs and lidar imagery (2-3) and was digitially plotted during the Dorset Middle Stour AI&M. The mound is 11 metres across.

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)

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

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, 52 (Unpublished document). SDO14228.

A Bronze Age bowl barrow visible as a low rise 9m dia. and 0.8m high. The burial mound is overlain on its western edge by the Iron Age outer rampart of Badbury Rings. The Ordnance Survey mention a ditch on all sides but the west, but this is not discernible when the site was visited.

Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 26-MAR-54 (Unpublished document).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

<1> 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. … (55) Bowl (96200310), immediately within the outer rampart of (34); diam. 40 ft., ht. 3 ft.’

<2> Environment Agency, 16-NOV-2021, LIDAR Environment Agency DTM (Aerial Photograph). SDO18034.

<3> Alexander Kieller Collection, 14-JUL-1924, ALK 7415/257 (Aerial Photograph). SDO18098.

Record last edited

Dec 24 2023 8:29AM