Monument record MDO6094 - Bowl Barrow, one of the Scrubbity Barrows, Sixpenny Handley

A bowl barrow recorded in 1975 as being around 28 feet in diameter with a mound around 2 feet high. Excavations by Pitt-Rivers showed that the mound covered what has been interpreted as the remains of a pyre, although it appears that no burnt bone was found.

A bowl barrow in Scrubbity Coppice, one of a group excavated by Pitt Rivers in 1882-83. Pitt Rivers' barrow xi (RCHME's Sixpenny Handley 45, Grinsell's Handley 3), and located a short distance southeast of ST 91 NE 95, it was excavated on January 9th 1883. A circular mound 28 feet in diameter, it was composed entirely of flint nodules, and contained a deposit of charcoal 9.5 feet by 4 feet in extent and up to 10 inches deep. No human remains were noted, but Pitt rivers suggested that the charcoal reporesented the remains of a funeral pyre after the cremated bone had been removed for burial elsewhere. 45 flint flakes were found among the nodules. [NB this barrow 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), 1975, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume V (East), 72 (Monograph). SDO129.

’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) … (45) Bowl (97221787), (Pitt-Rivers xi) covered what appears to have been the remains of a pyre, but no cremated bones were found. Diam. 28 ft., ht. 2 ft.'

<4> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1310931 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Sep 12 2024 11:01AM