Monument record MDO6343 - Bowl barrow, one of the Oakley Down Group, Wimborne St Giles

A round barrow of a type known as a bowl barrow. This monument was reported in 1975 as being approximately twelve metres in diameter, and around half a metre high. The mound was dug into by the antiquarian William Cunnington, who found a central cremation in an up-turned collared urn. More recent excavations on the edge of the mound revealed post holes, which the excavators interpreted as a support for a cremation pyre. They also found a pit nearby, which contained large quantities of cremated bone and ash; this pit was outside and earlier than the ditch around the barrow.

A bowl barrow, part of the Oakley Down barrow group (SU 01 NW 19). It was described by RCHME as a mound 40 feet in diameter and 1.5 feet high. It was excavated by Cunnington and Hoare in the early 19th century (Hoare's barrow 23). According to Hoare, "No. 23 being a low and broad barrow, we found some difficulty in ascertaining its centre, and we failed in our first attempts upon it; but a second trial, and a larger excavation, led us to an interment of burned bones deposited within an inverted urn of very coarse unbaked pottery". The barrow was re-excavated in 1968, following recognition of the damage caused by ploughing. The mound was shown to be surrounded by a very irregular ditch. It varied between 4 and 8 feet in width and between 4 feet and 2.5 feet in depth. There were suggestions of more than one phase of digging, and the northern side was noticeably straight and narrow, as though a causeway of a formerly penannular ditch had been removed. The primary burial pit was located just off centre beneath the mound, and contained potsherds (Collared Urn), charcoal, bone tweezers and cremated bone along with one of Cunnington's lead plaques (dated 1804). A post hole was found in the northern sector of the barrow, containing charcoal, burned clay and some fragments of cremated bone in its fill. Immediately opposite it but outside the barrow ditch was a pit containing large quantities of cremated bone and ash. The pit appeared to be cut by the northern barrow ditch, suggesting the latter was later. A subrectangular feature had been cut across the ditch on the southern side at an unknown date. A group of four stakeholes were found within the ditch to the southeast, arranged in a rectangle, associated with charcoal, burnt bone and pottery lying on the primary ditch fill. Several hundred flints were found during the excavation, and Roman and Saxon potsherds were present in the ploughsoil.

Primary cremation in coarse inverted urn. <1>

<1> Grinsell, L V, 1959, Dorset Barrows, 145 (Monograph). SDO132.

<2> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1971, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1970, 159-167. White, DA and R Reed. The Excavation of a Bowl Barrow at Oakley Down, Dorset, 1968. (Serial). SDO70.

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1975, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume V (East), 101-102 (Monograph). SDO129.

'(95) Bowl (01591704), (Hoare No. 23), in which Cunnington found a central cremation in an inverted collared urn. Recent excavations (Dorset Procs., 92 (1970), 159-67) near the N. edge of the mound have revealed a post-hole, interpreted as a cremation-pyre support; near it was a pit containing much cremated bone and ash. The pit lay outside and was clearly ealier than the very irregular barrrow ditch. Many flint flakes were found in the mound and ditch. Diam. 40 ft., ht. 1½ ft.'

<4> Colt Hoare, Sir Richard, 1975, The ancient history of Wiltshire, 242 (Monograph). SDO18077.

<5> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1312147 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Oct 3 2022 1:49PM