Monument record MDO6093 - Bowl Barrow, one of the Scrubbity Barrows Group, Sixpenny Handley

A bowl barrow excavated by Pitt-Rivers, who found that the mound covered an inverted collared urn but no burial in a pit. Flint tools and many flakes of flint were found within the mound. In 1975 this monument was described as an earthwork around 64 feet in diameter with a mound about 2 feet high.

A bowl barrow in Scrubbity Coppice, one of a group excavated by Pitt Rivers in 1882-83. Pitt Rivers' barrow x (RCHME's Sixpenny Handley 44, Grinsell's Handley 2), it was excavated on January 3rd 1883 and is located a short distance north of ST 91 NE 17. Prior to excavation it was visible as a mound 64 feet in diameter and up to 2 feet high. Excavation showed it to be surrounded by a ditch 5 feet wide at the top. Beneath the centre of the mound was a pit cut intoo the natural chalk, containing an inverted Collared Urn. No cremation deposit was found within or near it. Finds from the mound and ditch included over 700 flint flakes, 30 cores and a flint axehead. [NB this site was formerly described as part of ST 91 NE 17. That record should be consulted for some additional information and sources]. <4>

<1> Pitt Rivers, A H L F, 1888, Excavations in Barrows near Rushmore. Excavations in the Romano-British village Rotherly. Excavations in Cranborne Chase vol II Rushmore, 3-5, 32-44 (Monograph). SDO16665.

<2> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 113 (Monograph). SDO132.

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1972, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume IV (North), 72 (Monograph). SDO99.

‘Scrubbity Barrows (43-50), a group of eight, lie on the S.W. slope of a dry valley in woodland between Woodcutts Common and Handley Common; all were excavated, but most only partially, by Pitt-Rivers (Excavations II (1888), 3-5, 32-44) … (44) Bowl (97231790), (Pitt-Rivers x) covered an inverted collared urn, but no burial in a central pit. A flint axe and numerous flint flakes were found in the mound. Diam. 64 ft., ht. 2 ft.’

<4> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1310925 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Sep 12 2024 11:01AM