Monument record MDO6074 - Wor Barrow, Sixpenny Handley

A long barrow excavated by General Pitt-Rivers in 1893-4. Before excavation the barrow was a mound 150 feet long, 75 feet wide and 12 feet high. Removal of the mound revealed a rectangular enclosure with an entrance at one end, formed by a ditch packed with flint into which was set timber posts. Six burials lay beneath a shallow turf mound inside the enclosure. Two more Neolithic burials were placed within the ditch, and seventeen Romano-British burials were found in the mound and ditch. After excavation the barrow was re-formed into an amphitheatre for public events.

Wor Barrow. `Pegan bearh' [This is a Stadden transcript of Crawford's original entry. `Pegan' may really be `pagan']. <3>

Orientated northwest-southeast with larger end to the southeast containing six crouched burials. The long barrow was about 150 feet long, 75 feet wide and 12.5 feet high and surrounded by an irregular ditch with four causeways. <4>

An Anglo-Saxon horse ornament was found at a depth of 1.7 feet in the surface mould of the ditch surrounding the Wor Barrow (cf. similar object from Anglo-Saxon graves near Eastry, Kent). <5>

Wor Barrow. Owing to its complete excavation by Pitt-Rivers, 1893-4, this long barrow does not preserve its original appearance. It now appears as a large flat-topped mound surrounded by a deep wide ditch which is craned by four causeways. Mounds to the N and SE are presumably spoil heaps as is a large terraced bank on the W side. <6>

The Wor Barrow contained an enclosure 90 feet by 34 feet with an entrance at the southeast end. This was defined by a trench 1.5-3 feet wide and 3 feet deep packed with flint nodules that once supported timber uprights. Within the enclosure under a low turf mound by six primary inhumations, three articulated, three in diameter.

The ditch surrounding the barrow was interrupted by one causeway at the northwest end, three at the southeast. The ditch was between 15 and 25 wide and generally 13 feet deep. Traces of an earlier ditch were rated on the northeast and south inner margins. Two early Neolithic burials, an adult and child were found at a depth of 8 feet at the southeast end of the ditch. Seventeen Romano-British burials, eight of them headless were found in shallow graves inserted into the mound and ditch, and much pottery of this period was found scattered in the upper filling of the ditch. The finds are in the Pitt-Rivers Museum, Farnham. <10>

Two radiocarbon dates have been obtained from antlers found in the barrow-ditch basal silting. These give dates of 2490 I 70 bc (BM 2284) and 2400 I 70 bc (BM 2283). <11>

Wor Barrow and two bowl barrows on Handley Down. Scheduling amended. <16>

No dating evidence was found associated with the seventeen inhumations recovered from the barrow and ditch and a Romano-British date had been suggested. However this cemetery has many characteristics of a late Saxon execution cemetery, therefore the burials could be of a similar date. <17>

NRHE Summary:
Neolithic long barrow located near the crest of Oakley Down, orientated roughly northwest-southeast. Listed by RCHME as Sixpenny Handley 29 and by Grinsell as Handley I. Excavated totally by Pitt Rivers in 1893-4, prior to excavation it comprised a mound 150 feet long, 75 feet wide and 12 feet high. It was surrounded by a ditch which proved to be steep-sided, flat-bottomed, and interrupted by a single causeway at the northwest end and three at the southeast end. The ditch varied in width from 10 feet to 25 feet, and was up to 13 feet deep. The excavations showed that the mound was preceded by an earlier monument on the same alignment, suggested by Barrett et al (1991) to be a sub-rectangular post-built structure, the posts perhaps revetting a mound up to 1.5 metres high. A porched entrance faced southeast, and just inside it was the main burial area. Bracketed by 2 D-shaped pits and flanked by a stone bank were the disarticulated remains of 3 males and the articulated skeletons of 3 others, all covered by a low mound of soil. The ditch surrounding the later, enlarged mound featured a lengthy sequence of deposits, beginning with Early Neolithic plain bowl sherds plus antler radicoarbon dated to the early to mid 4th millennium BC in the lowest fill. Above these layers, but below those containing Peterborough Ware, were 2 crouched inhumations (1 adult, 1 child) with a large flint arrowhead against the west terminal of the entrance. Higerh layers contained Peterborough Ware pottery, while the uppermost featured some beaker sherds and Roman pottery. Seventeen possible late Saxon burials had been inserted into the ditch. In later prehistory, Wor Barrow appears to have been separated from cultivated fields by an irregulalr ditched enclosure (see SU 01 NW 12). Wor Barrow is closely associated with two later Neolithic round barrows (SU 01 NW 13 and 15). The site was reconstructed, after a fashion, by Pitt Rivers.

Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1937, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1936, 116-119 (Serial). SDO39.

Land given to Shaftesbury Abbey in AD 956 ‘2. Of. Etc., on Pegan Beorh: “From Oak Lea to Pega’s Barrow.” This is almost certainly Wor Barrow (O.M.1.) on the E. By. Due E. of Handley village.

<1> Pitt-Rivers, A H L F, 1898, Excavations in Cranborne Chase near Rushmore on the Borders of Dorset and Wilts 1893-96 Volume IV, 58-122 (Monograph). SDO16623.

<2> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1902 (Map). SWX1540.

Wor Barrow (Tumulus) E O E

<3> Crawford, O G S, Annotated record map 6 inch (Map). SWX7265.

<4> Grinsell, L V, 1940, Dorset Barrows (typewriter's copy) (Unpublished document). SDO19620.

<5> Phillips, C W, CW Phillips DA Index (Index). SDO19098.

<6> Work, R L B, 1954, Field Investigators Comments RLBW, F1 RLBW 06-APR-1954 (Unpublished document). SWX3791.

<7> Piggott, Stuart, 1954, The Neolithic cultures of the British Isle: a study of the stone-using agricultural communities of Britain in the second millennium B.C. (Monograph). SDO19100.

<8> Meaney, A L, 1964, A Gazetteer of Early Anglo-Saxon burial sites, 82 (Bibliographic reference). SWX4310.

<9> Ashbee, P, 1970, The Earthen Long Barrow in Britain (Monograph). SDO16712.

<10> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1975, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume V (East), 71 (Monograph). SDO129.

‘(29) WOR BARROW, a Neolithic long barrow (01241728), was totally excavated by General Pitt-Rivers in 1893-4. The present earthwork, a sort of amphitheatre, was created by him for the holding of exhibitions, games etc (Plate 78, top left). The material from the mound was formed into a terraced bank along the S.W. side and the area within the ditch became an arena. The barrow is prominently sited near the crest of Handley Down and is clearly visible from the large group of barrows (WIMBORNE ST. GILES (94-124)) on Oakley Down to the E., whose siting it may have conditioned.
Before 1893-4 the mound, aligned S.E.-N.W., was 150 ft. long, 75 ft. wide and 12 ft. high. Beneath it was found a rectangular enclosure, 90 ft. by 34 ft., with an entrance at the S.E. end. This enclosure was defined by a trench, 1½ ft. to 3 ft. wide and 3 ft. deep, packed with flint nodules which had formerly held timber uprights. Within the enclosure under a low turf mound lay six primary inhumations, three of them articulated and three in disorder.
The long barrow was surrounded by a ditch, steep-sided, flat-bottomed and interrupted by one causeway at the N.W. end and by three at the S.E. end. The ditch varied in width from 10 ft. to 25 ft. and for the most part was some 13 ft. deep, except at the N.W. end where it shallowed to 7 ft. Along the inner margin of the ditch on the N.E. and S. were traces of an earlier, shallower ditch, also interrupted; possibly it was contemporary with the rectangular enclosure under the mound. Two early Neolithic burials, an adult and a child, were found 8 ft. down in the main ditch at the S.E. end. The ditch also yielded a stratified sequence of pottery from early to late Neolithic. Seventeen Romano-British burials, eight of them headless, were found in shallow graves inserted into the mound and ditch, and much pottery of this period was found scattered in the upper filling of the ditch. Finds from the excavation are in the Pitt-Rivers Museum, Farnham.
Bibliography – Pitt-Rivers, Excavations IV (1898), 58-122. S. Piggott, Neolithic Cultures of the British Isles (1954), 53 ff. P. Ashbee, The Earthen Long Barrow in Britain (1970), passim.’

<11> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1985, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1984, 109 (Serial). SDO84.

<12> Council for British Archaeology, 1987, Council for British Archaeology Group 12: Newsletter, April 1987, 10 (Serial). SWX9285.

<13> Bradley, R, 1988, Revised Radiocarbon dates for Wor Barrow and Maumbury Rings (Article in serial). SDO9394.

<14> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1989, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1988, 160 (Serial). SDO88.

<15> Barrett, J, Bradley, R and Green, M, 1991, Landscape, Monuments and Society: the prehistory of Cranborne Chase (Monograph). SDO16633.

<16> Cherryson, A K, 2006, Gazetteer of Early Medieval Sites, 47 (Unpublished document). SDO17464.

<17> Allen, Michael J, Smith, Martin, Jay, Mandy, Montgomery, Janet, Bronk Ramsey, Christopher, Cook, Gordon, and Marshall, Peter, 2016, Wor Barrow, Cranborne Chase, Dorset. Chronological Modelling. (Unpublished document). SDO15622.

<18> Historic England, Historic England Archive, ORD01/01 (Index). SDO14738.

Object Title: Ordnance Survey: Portfolios. Scope & Content: 73 folios with a wide range of material, from original surveys to copies of old maps, acquired from the Ordnance Survey in 1983. Listed and rehoused 1992-93. Includes prints taken in 1995 of Stonehenge and Clausentum plans. Folio numbers: AO 1 - AO 2308.

<19> Historic England, Historic England Archive, 892032 (Index). SDO14738.

Object Title: RCHME: Worbarrow and Thickthorn Barrows, Dorset. Scope & Content: Plan based on source - Piggott, 1954, fig 8 and Drew & Piggott, 1936

<20> Historic England, Historic England Archive, AO2309/03 (Index). SDO14738.

Object Title: Conjectural plan and perspective reconstruction of long mortuary enclosure, Wor Barrow, Dorset

<21> Historic England, Historic England Archive, BB81/01728 (Index). SDO14738.

Object Title: EXCAVATION AFTER THREE WEEKS. THE BARROW IS NOW MUCH ALTERED DUE TO THIS EXCAVATION. Scope & Content: Donor: UNKNOWN.

<22> Historic England, Historic England Archive, BB81/01730 (Index). SDO14738.

Object Title: EXCAVATION AFTER THREE WEEKS. THE BARROW IS NOW MUCH ALTERED DUE TO THIS EXCAVATION. Scope & Content: Donor: UNKNOWN.

<23> Historic England, Historic England Archive, BB81/01733 (Index). SDO14738.

Object Title: THE BARROW IS NOW MUCH ALTERED DUE TO THIS EXCAVATION. Scope & Content: Donor: UNKNOWN.

<24> Historic England, Historic England Archive, BB81/03121 (Index). SDO14738.

Object Title: THE BARROW IS NOW MUCH ALTERED DUE TO THIS EXCAVATION. Scope & Content: Donor: UNKNOWN.

<25> Historic England, Historic England Archive, BB81/03122 (Index). SDO14738.

Object Title: EXCAVATION OF DITCH. Scope & Content: Donor: UNKNOWN.

<26> Historic England, Historic England Archive, BB81/03123 (Index). SDO14738.

Object Title: GENERAL VIEW OF EXCAVATION - BARROW NOW MUCH ALTERED. Scope & Content: Donor: UNKNOWN.

<27> Historic England, Historic England Archive, BB88/02631 (Index). SDO14738.

Object Title: DRINKING VESSEL FOUND NEAR FEET, SECTION OF GRAVE AND PLAN OF GRAVE.

<28> National Record of the Historic Environment, 213497 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Nov 26 2024 10:26AM