Monument record MDO6186 - Stephen's Castle, Verwood

A Bronze Age bowl barrow situated on a low spur. In 1975 this monument was reported as being an earthwork around 32 feet in diameter with a mound about 3 feet high. Antiquarian investigation in 1828 by T W Wake Smart revealed a cremation under an upturned barrel urn. The barrow mound is visible on aerial photographs and was digitally plotted during the Dorset Stour NMP.

(SU 09110970) Tumulus (NR) <3>

(58) Stephen's Castle, bowl barrow (09110970), lies on a low spur on heathland N. of the village; diam. 32 ft., ht. 3 ft. A cremation under an inverted barrel urn was found when the barrow was opened in 1828 (C.T.D., Pt 2, No. 18; Arch. J., CXIX (1962), 54). <4>

SU 09100970. Bowl barrow, known as Stephen's Castle. The barrow mound measures 15 metres in diameter and stands 1 metre high. Scheduling amended. <5>

A bowl barrow situated on a low spur. In 1975 this monument was reported as being an earthwork around 32 feet in diameter with a mound about 3 feet high. Antiquarian investigation in 1828 by T W Wake Smart revealed a cremation under an upturned barrel urn. The barrow mound is visible on aerial photographs and was digitally plotted during the Dorset Stour NMP. The mound lies in rough-ground and appears to have a path running over the top of it causing erosion in 2014. <6>

<1> Warne, C, 1866, The Celtic Tumuli of Dorset (1866) (Monograph). SWX8166.

Personal communication from Dr Wake Smart: BOVERIDGE HEATH. "In the year 1828, a barrow was opened on this Heath, which is within the Parish of Cranborne; it was situated on a hill called Stephen's Castle, and on the edge of a declivity known as Hill Hole. In this mound, which was low and broad, at the depth of about five feet from the apex, in a gravelly soil mixed with white sand, was discovered a rough coarse sand-stone of a triangular shape, of about one foot in thickness, and two feet at its greatest width; lying a little to the east of the centre of the barrow. At the depth of one foot beneath it, was placed an inverted um, resting on a floor of compact sand. When found, it was in perfect condition, filled with fragments of burnt bones, but being in a moist state, cracked when taken out and exposed to the atmosphere. The material of this urn consisted of clay and coarse sand; it was unbaked, of rude construction, and ornamented with several rows of slight indentures, such as might have been done by the finger-nail; its height was nineteen and a half inches, with a diameter of one foot at the rim, which was somewhat dilated externally, corresponding with a groove inside. In its side were two holes, probably for securing a fracture, by the insertion of a ligature."

<2> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 138 (Monograph). SDO132.

SU09110970 11 paces in diameter and 3 feet high with a hollow in the centre. ‘Opened by TWWS: probable primary cremation beneath inverted urn 19½ in. high, with fingertip decoration, and with two repair-holes in side: probably LBA. The urn was covered with a slab of sandstone. CTD (cpf), no. 18. ‘

<3> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1963 (Map). SWX1540.

<4> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1975, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume V (East), 74 (Monograph). SDO129.

‘Seven barrows form a scatter on Boveridge Heath in the extreme N. of the parish. With the exception of Stephen’s Castle (58) they all lie in a plantation on a slight rise in the heath. ... (58) Stephen’s Castle, bowl barrow (09110970), lies on a low spur on heathland N. of the village; diam. 32 ft., ht. 3 ft. A cremation under an inverted barrel urn was found when the barrow was opened in 1828 (C.T.D., Pt. 2, No. 18; Arch. J., CXIX (1962), 54).’

<4.1> Royal Archaeological Institute, 1962, The Archaeological Journal 119, 54 (Serial). SDO17903.

<5> Historic England, Scheduled Monument Notification, EH Scheduling amendment, 11-AUG-2003 (Scheduling record). SDO17468.

<6> GetMapping, 2014, Digital vertical aerial photographs (Aerial Photograph). SDO14101.

<7> National Record of the Historic Environment, 212927 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Oct 11 2024 2:20PM