Monument record MDO6158 - Barrow or Searchlight Battery, Sturminster Marshall

A low grass covered mound, recorded as a destroyed barrow on a map in the Dorset County Museum and interpreted as a possible barrow by the RCHME. The mound was described in 1954 as being around 8 metres in diameter and about 0.3 metres high with a depression in the top, with no sign of a surrounding ditch. Identified as the site of a WW2 searchlight battery by the local farmer in 1981. The record for this monument has been enhanced with support from Wessex Water.

Marked as 'tumulus quite destroyed' on a Ministry of Works map in the Dorset County Museum. <1>

(SY 93769955) A grass covered mound 8.0m. diameter and approximately 0.3m. high, with no sign of a surrounding ditch. A depression in the mound appears to be the result of a major excavation, the rim of the barrow being the main source of identification. <2>

Possible barrow formerly stood 145 yards south of Newton Peveril Farm. <4>

At SY 93669955,is a low grass-covered mound, almost ploughed out (0.1 metre high). The owner of the field states that it was the site of a searchlight battery in the War. On a flat water-meadow, it is in an unlikely position for a barrow. <5>

<1> Rivet, A L F, Annotated record map 6", 21.5.1953 (Map). SDO17443.

<1.1> Anon, Undated, Pte 6 inch Dorset County Museum (Anon undated) (Map). SWX2203.

Note by A L F Rivet 21.5.53 refers.

<2> Quinnell, N V, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigator's Comments NVQ, F1 NVQ 17-MAR-54 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<3> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 132 (Monograph). SDO132.

<4> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 453 (Monograph). SDO150.

<5> Barton, J G, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigator's Comments JGB, F2 JGB 19-FEB-81 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

<5.1> Oral: Newton Peveril Farm (Verbal communication). SDO20109.

<6> Trust for Wessex Archaeology, 1986, Dorset Barrow Survey (Index). SDO134.

'No visible trace in a field used as a horse paddock in pasture.'

<7> Historic England, National Record of the Historic Environment, 457244 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Jul 31 2026 2:01PM